(Gang W.) Analyses of Sandwich Beams and Plates Wi

ABSTRACT
Title of Dissertation: Analyses of Sandwich Beams and Plates

with Viscoelastic Cores
Gang Wang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2001
Dissertation directed by: Associate Professor Norman M. Wereley

Department of Aerospace Engineering
A hybrid damping scheme using passive constrained damping layers (PCLD),
and surface bonded piezoceramic actuators was proposed for interior cabin noise
and vibration control in helicopters. In order to evaluate the performance of these
treatments, we need to understand the dynamic behavior of sandwich structures.
The analyses of sandwich structures are complicated by the frequency dependent
stiness and damping properties of viscoelastic materials. The methods devel-
oped in this thesis specically deal with nite element methods and assumed
modes methods to this problem.
A spectral nite element method (SFEM) was developed in the frequency
domain for sandwich beam analysis. The results of natural frequencies and fre-
quency responses for two cantilevered beams with dierent span of PCLD treat-
ments were presented and validated by experimental results and other analyses;
including the assumed modes method (AM), and conventional nite element
method (CFEM). The SFEM method implicitly accounts for frequency depen-
dent stiness and damping of viscoelastic materials. However, CFEM and AM
method have to use additional internal dissipation coordinates to account for
these properties. The Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) damping method was
used in both analyses. Also SFEM improves accuracy of frequency predictions
compared to the results of CFEM and AM method because of its higher order
interpolation functions.
We expected to extend SFEM method to two-dimensional sandwich plate
structures. But it is extremely dicult to solve the governing equations for a
sandwich plate. An alternative method was developed to update the traditional
AM method by using plate mode shapes. The plate mode shape functions were
solved directly based on the Kantorovich variational method for both transverse
bending and in-plane vibration of isotropic rectangular plates. These plate mode
shapes were employed to calculate sandwich plates in AM method. The results of
natural frequencies, loss factors and frequency response functions were calculated
and validated by experimental data and the results by using beam and rod mode
shapes. The comparable results were achieved for both analyses with less modes
in the case of using plate mode shapes.

Analyses of Sandwich Beams and Plates
with Viscoelastic Cores
by
Gang Wang
Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School

of The University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulllment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2001
Thesis Committee:
Associate Professor Norman M. Wereley, Chairman/Advisor

Professor Amr Baz
Professor Inderjit Chopra
Professor Sung W. Lee
Associate Professor Darryll J. Pines

c Copyright by
Gang Wang
2001
DEDICATION
To my parents and my teachers.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere gratitude and appreciation goes to my advisor, Dr. Nor-
man Wereley. His kindness, encouragement, and support, helped my
walk through this path. His personal concerns for my family are
especially appreciated.
I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Dr.
Baz, Dr. Chopra, Dr. Lee. and Dr. Pines, for their suggestions, and
their enthusiasm in my research.
Over the course of my graduate studies, I have shared happy moments
and tough times with my colleagues at the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft
Center. I am grateful for this.
I wish to thank my wife, Ying, for her patience, help, and love during
those years. Many thanks to Dr. Chang, for his helpful discussions
on mathematics in my research as well as his personal concerns for
my family.
iii
Above all, I give thanks to God.
Finally, this research was supported by U.S Army Research Oce
under the FY96 MURI in Active Control of Rotorcraft Vibration
and Acoustics, with Dr. Gary Anderson and Dr. Tom Doligalski
serving as technical monitors. Lab equipment support was provided
under the FY96 Defense University Research Instrumentation Pro-
gram (DURIP) Contract No. DAAH-0496-10301, and Dr. Gary
Anderson serving as technical monitor.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES xiv
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 State-of-the-art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.1 Viscoelastic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.2 Sandwich Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.3 Sandwich Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Scope of the Present Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1 Sandwich Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.2 Sandwich Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4 Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2 Viscoelastic Materials 19
2.1 Characteristics of Viscoelastic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
v
2.2 Classical Damping Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 Modern Damping Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.1 Fractional Derivatives Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.3.2 AFT and ADF Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.3 Golla-Hughes-McTavish Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 Comparison of Analyses of Sandwich Beams 40
3.1 Assumptions and Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1.1 Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1.2 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 Spectral Finite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.1 Isotropic Rod and Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2.2 Sandwich Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3 Conventional Finite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4 Assumed Modes Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.5 Solution Type/Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.6 Experimental Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.7 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.7.1 Modal Frequency Predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.7.2 Number of Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.7.3 Frequency Response Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
vi
3.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4 Analyses of Sandwich Plates: Part I 80
4.1 Assumptions and Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.1.1 Asssumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.1.2 Sandwich Plate Energies and Governing Equations . . . . 83
4.2 Assumed Modes Method Using Beam and Rod modes . . . . . . . 88
4.2.1 Analytical Validation: Simply Supported . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2.2 Experimental Validation: All Four Sides Clamped . . . . . 92
4.2.3 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5 Plate Mode Shapes 110
5.1 Plate In-plane Mode Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.1.1 Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.1.2 Validation and Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.1.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.2 Plate Bending Vibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.3 Results for Plate Bending and In-plane Mode Shape Functions . . 139
6 Analyses of Sandwich Plate: Part II 146
6.1 Experimental Set-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
vii
6.2.1 Aluminum Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6.2.2 Plate with PCLD Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7 Summary and Conclusions 175
7.1 Sandwich Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.2 Sandwich Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.3 Recommendations for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
A Mass and Stiness Matrices 180
A.1 Mass Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
A.2 Stiness Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Bibliography 187
viii
LIST OF TABLES
3.1 Beam and actuator constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.2 Comparison of predicted and measured modal frequencies of the
beam specimen 1 with a 75% PCLD treatment. N is the number
of nite elements; Nb is the number of bending modes and Ne is
the number of extension modes used in AM method. . . . . . . . 71
3.3 Comparison of predicted and measured modal frequencies for beam
specimen 2 with a 50% PCLD treatment. N is the number of -
nite elements; Nb is the number of bending modes and Ne is the
number of extension modes used in AM method. . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.1 Material constants for a simply-supported sandwich plate . . . . . 92
4.2 Mode number mapping table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.3 Validation of sandwich model against theoretical solution . . . . . 101
4.4 Curve tting of mini-oscillator parameters used in GHM method
for the viscoelastic materials 3M ISD112 at dierent temperatures 102
ix
4.5 Calibration of experimental set-up: the inuence of plate thick-
ness on accuracy of the experiments. Aluminum plate dimensions:
67.31 cm x 52.07 cm x t (26.5 x 20.5 x t) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4.6 Experimental validation using symmetric clamped sandwich II . . 104
4.7 Experimental validation for 67.31 cm x 52.07 cm x (0.04cm - VEM
- 0.08cm) (26.5 x 20.5 x (1/64 Al - VEM - 1/32 Al)) asym-
metric clamped sandwich plate; nb = 25, ne = 25, at 20 . . . . . . 105
4.8 Experimental validation for 67.31 cm x 52.07 cm x (0.04cm - VEM
- 0.08cm) (26.5 x 20.5 x (1/64 Al - VEM - 1/32 Al)) asym-
metric clamped sandwich plate; nb = 25, ne = 25, at 20 . . . . . . 106
4.9 Eect of the number of assumed modes on the modal predictions
for the symmetric sandwich plate, at 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.1 Admissible rod mode shape functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.2 Natural frequencies of in-plane vibration of a rectangular plate
with CCCC boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
with CCCF boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
with CFCF boundary conditions; Modal number 0 denotes the
rigid mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
x
5.5 The parameters in mode shape functions of a rectangular plate
bending vibration under CFCF boundary condition I: where Wmn (x, y) =
Xwm Ywn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
bending vibration under CFCF boundary condition II: where Wmn (x, y) =
Xwm Ywn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.7 The parameters in mode shape functions of a rectangular plate in-
plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition I: where Umn (x, y) =
Xum Yun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.8 The parameters in mode shape functions of a rectangular plate in-
plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition II: where Umn (x, y) =
Xum Yun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
in-plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition III: where
Vmn (x, y) = Xvm Yvn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
in-plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition IV: where
Vmn (x, y) = Xvm Yvn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.1 Coordinates of the 15 measured locations for an aluminum plate
under CFCF boundary conditions; x and y are in inches . . . . . 152
xi
6.2 Coordinates of the 15 measured locations for a plate with PCLD
treatment under CFCF boundary conditions; x and y are in inches 152
6.3 Bending frequency results for an aluminum plate with CFCF
boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.4 Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for an alu-
minum plate with CFCF boundary conditions, 15 tested locations
from mode 1 to 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.5 Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for an alu-
minum plate with CFCF boundary conditions, 15 tested locations
from mode 5 to 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.6 Bending frequency results for a plate with PCLD treatment, as
shown in Figure 6.3; in analysis I, 25 modes for each displacement
were assumed and it leads to 500 degrees of freedom; in analysis
II, 16 modes for each displacement were used for a total of 320
degrees of freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.7 Loss factor results for a plate with PCLD treatment, as shown
in Figure 6.3; in analysis I, 25 modes for each displacement were
assumed and it leads to 500 degrees of freedom; in analysis II, 16
modes for each displacement were used for a total of 320 degrees
of freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.8 Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for a plate
with PCLD treatment; 15 tested locations from mode 1 to 3 . . . 167
xii
6.9 Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for the
plate with PCLD treatment; 15 tested locations from mode 4 to 5 168
xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1 Nomogram of the viscoelastic material, 3M ISD 112. . . . . . . . . 36
2.2 Storage Modulus and Loss Factor Vs. frequency at temperature
20o C for the viscoelastic material 3M ISD 112. . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3 Classical models of viscoelastic materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4 Creep functions for three models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.5 Relaxation functions for three models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.6 The mini-oscillators mechanical analogy in GHM method . . . . . 38
2.7 The GHM prediction of complex shear modulus using three mini-
oscillators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 Specimen 1: the PCLD treatment covers 75% of the total length
of the beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.2 Specimen 2: the PCLD treatment covers 50% of the total length
of the beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.3 Cross section of beam with PCLD treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.4 Deection of beam with PCLD treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
xiv
3.5 Nodal degrees of freedom in SFEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.6 Nodal degrees of freedom in CFEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.7 Experimental set up for beam with PCLD treatments . . . . . . . 75
3.8 Number of elements used in SFEM and CFEM for 50% PCLD beam 76
3.9 The eects of number of elements on modal frequencies for spec-
imen 1 having 75% PCLD treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.10 The eects of number of elements on modal frequencies for spec-
imen 2 having 50% PCLD treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.11 Frequency Response function from the piezoelectric voltage input
to the tip displacement output: the PCLD treatment covers 75%
of the length of the base beam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.12 Frequency Response function from the piezoelectric voltage input
to the tip displacement output: the PCLD treatment covers 50%
of the length of the base beam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1 Sandwich plate and layer displacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.2 Experimental setup for plate test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.3 The temperature eects on the frequencies and system loss factors
for a symmetric clamped sandwich plate; ne = 25, nb = 25. . . . . 108
for the rst asymmetric clamped sandwich plate; ne = 25, nb = 25. 108
xv
for the second asymmetric clamped sandwich plate; ne = 25, nb =
25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.1 Schematic of rectangular plate under in-plane vibration . . . . . . 113
5.2 Three congurations of rectangular plate under in-plane vibration 129
5.3 Mode shapes of in-plane vibration of a rectangular plate with
CCCC boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
CCCF boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
CFCF boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.6 Schematic of rectangular plate bending vibration . . . . . . . . . 133
5.7 A uniform rectangular plate with CFCF boundary conditions . . . 139
6.1 Schematic of plate testing set-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.2 Diagram of clamping xture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.3 A plate with PCLD treatment under CFCF boundary conditions 151
6.4 Schematic of sensor array for plate testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.5 Contour plot of experimental bending mode shape functions for
an aluminum plate with CFCF boundary conditions . . . . . . . . 169
6.6 Contour plot of analytical bending mode shape functions for an
aluminum plate with CFCF boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . 170
xvi
6.7 Frequency response functions of an aluminum plate with CFCF
boundary conditions, at location 15, as shown as Table 6.1; in
which only 7 plate modes were included and 25 beam bending
modes were used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.8 Contour plot of experimental bending mode shape functions for a
plate with PCLD treatment under CFCF boundary conditions . . 172
6.9 Contour plot of analytical bending mode shape functions for a
plate with PCLD treatment under CFCF boundary conditions . . 173
6.10 Frequency response functions of a plate with PCLD, at location
11; in analysis I, 25 modes for each displacement were assumed
and it leads to 500 degrees of freedom; in analysis II, 16 modes for
each displacement were used for a total of 320 degrees of freedom. 174
xvii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation and Objectives
Damping augmentation of structures is of key interest to aerospace, mechanical,
and civil engineers. Noise and vibration reduction is a major challenge pertain-
ing to these elds; especially in aerospace applications, such a reduction must
be achieved with a minimal increase in weight. Viscoelastic damping layers inte-
grated within the structures of vibrating members have been used towards this
end.
The current research work is motivated by the helicopter industrys goal of
achieving a jet smooth quiet ride, in which smart materials and structures tech-
nologies may be exploited and applied. Our research task is the hybrid/active
trim panel damping control in reduction of the interior cabin noise of the heli-
copter. Two primary contributions to the interior noise are airborne noise and
structure-borne noise. Airborne noise, which occurs mainly in a low frequency
1
range below 500 Hz, is due to main and tail rotors. Structure-borne noise is
primarily responsible for frequency components in the range from 500 Hz to
6000 Hz. The transmission adds these higher frequency disturbances, and these
disturbances are borne through the air and via structural vibration into the
cabin.
Three dierent approaches to control noise have been taken in the past:
1) passive scheme, 2) active scheme, and 3) hybrid scheme. Passive schemes
include increasing damping material and stiening of the structures [47]. In
this approach, damping and stiness characteristics of a structure are enhanced.
Aircraft skin with damping tape is eective for reducing the response of the
skin, and consequently, noise transmission in the high frequency range. The
damping tape is not eective at a low frequency range (below 500 Hz). Therefore,
passive control approaches are ineective, particularly for low frequency. Also an
undesirable consequence of passive damping method in aerospace applications
is an increase of weight, which penalizes performance. The second approach
involves actively controlling interior noise using secondary sources. The active
schemes use secondary acoustic sources as in Nelson and Elliott [48] or secondary
force actuators as in Fuller and Jones [22] and Balachandran et al [2]. The state-
of-the-art for the active control scheme has been recently reviewed by Hansen
[26]. Hansen described the currently available control system hardware, software,
and control sources. Active control schemes overcome the weight penalties, but
these method are eectively limited to low frequency bands, less than 500 Hz.
2
The third scheme for noise control is a hybrid scheme. This scheme utilizes
features of both passive and active control schemes, in which active control can
handle low frequency and passive control can handle high frequency disturbances.
One such hybrid approaches is the concept of active constrained layer damping
(ACLD) scheme by Baz [4] and its application to noise control by Poh et al [51].
In our previous research, we proposed a hybrid scheme [59, 60] with the use
of viscoelastic material for passive damping augmentation, and a surface piezo
patch actuators for active control. The passive dissipative layers can damp out
higher frequency components of the disturbances, while control of the actuators
through control algorithms can suppress noise in the lower frequencies. A pre-
liminary study of this hybrid scheme was investigated by Veeramani [60]. The
structures considered were a three-layered sandwich plate, which were used to
emulate a trim panel. A viscoelastic core was sandwiched between the two face
layers of the trim panel and the viscoelastic core has a frequency dependent com-
plex shear modulus. The assumed mode method was used to solve the system
using beam and rod mode shape functions. Experiments were conducted for the
case where all edges of the sandwich plate were clamped. Natural frequencies
and loss factors predictions were validated experimentally. We continue this task
to further study the sandwich beams and plates in order to obtain more accurate
solutions. Therefore, the objectives of this research are:
1. To develop a spectral nite element method using higher order interpolation
3
functions to reduce computational cost for sandwich beam analysis;
2. To implicitly account for frequency dependent stiness and damping of vis-
coelastic materials by using the spectral nite element method in sandwich
beam analysis. A corollary of this is that we do not want to add internal
dissipation coordinates which increase degrees of freedom, and hence the
computational cost;
3. To directly solve for the bending and in-plane mode shape functions of isotropic
rectangular plate vibration based on the Kantorovich method and utilize
these mode shape functions in the assumed modes method for the sandwich
plate analysis to reduce the computational cost compared to the previous
work which used 1D beam and rod modes;
4. To validate natural frequencies, damping, mode shapes and response experi-
mentally in all of the above cases.
The following section describes the state-of-the-art in the models of viscoelastic
material, sandwich beam and plate and solution types.
1.2 State-of-the-art
1.2.1 Viscoelastic Materials
Fundamental damping concepts and methods to characterize damping are pre-
sented in the book by Nashif et al [47]. Nashif et al represented viscoelastic
4
materials using a complex modulus in the frequency domain. When excited by
a harmonic force of constant amplitude, the steady state response of a simple
single-degree-of-freedom system can be used to determine the damping through
the response amplitude at resonance, Nyquist plots, hysteresis loops and dynamic
stiness. Thus a frequency dependent complex modulus can be determined, that
experimentally captures the steady state behavior of viscoelastic materials to si-
nusoidal excitation. The temperature nomogram was developed by Jones [29] to
represent such data in a master curve that is convenient for practical applica-
tions. Several of these data sheets are shown in appendices of Nashif et al [47],
as well as in manufacturer data sheets, for example 3M [56].
All the damping models for the viscoelastic materials must capture the fre-
quency dependent complex modulus in the frequency domain and demonstrate
the creep and relaxation properties in the time domain as well. Traditional
damping models were reviewed by Sun and Yu [58]: the Maxwell, the Kelvin,
and the Zener model [71]. However, these models have drawbacks and cannot
capture the real behaviors of the viscoelastic materials [47, 58]. Creep functions
predicted by the Maxwell model and relaxation functions predicted by the Kelvin
model are unrealistic for the viscoelastic materials. The Zener model can pre-
dict both creep and relaxation functions well but it failed to capture the curve
of frequency dependent complex modulus in the frequency domain realization.
Christensen [12] discussed the viscoelasticity theory, in which a time domain
model using a relaxation function was developed. This time domain model can
5
be transformed into the frequency domain, thereby gaining a complex modulus.
The properties of the relaxation function were discussed based on the physical
principles. But it is very dicult to nd such relaxation functions to capture a
complex modulus in the frequency domain through transformations. He did not
present a relaxation function as an example either. Bagley and Torvik [3] tried
to improve the traditional damping models as discussed above, but it turned
out to be a very complicated frequency model because there are ve parameters
have to be determined by curve tting the experimental data. It is also dicult
to transform the model into the time domain because it involves complicated
assembles of the system matrices.
Recent damping models were developed in order to curve t this master
curve of the viscoelastic material, that is, the complex modulus as a function
of frequency. Instead of deriving the damping force, these models introduce
additional internal dissipation coordinates to curve t the complex modulus in
the frequency domain and transform back to time domain. The GHM method
[23, 42, 43] was developed using mini-oscillators. This model can be easily in-
corporated into conventional nite element or other analyses to account for the
frequency dependent complex shear modulus. There are other models such as
the ATF and ADF method [37, 38, 39] and Yius model [69, 70]. These modern
damping models can be used to account for the frequency dependent complex
shear modulus of viscoelastic materials. In our research, the GHM method
was adopted and incorporated in the conventional nite element method or the
6
assumed modes method for the sandwich beam and plate analyses. These ad-
ditional dissipation coordinates increase the size of problem and lead to a large
degree of freedom model. In order to mitigate the computational cost, we need to
develop a method in the frequency domain to implicitly account for the frequency
dependent complex shear modulus of viscoelastic materials for the analyses of
sandwich structures.
1.2.2 Sandwich Beams
For the surface damping treatments, Sun and Yu [58] summarized prior research.
There are two types of surface damping treatment: unconstrained, and con-
strained, layer treatments. For the unconstrained layer treatment, a layer of
viscoelastic tape is applied to the surface of a host structure. The energy is dis-
sipated by the cyclic tensile and compression strain when the host structure is
in bending motion. For the constrained layer treatment, a sti layer is added to
the top surface of the viscoelastic layer. When the sandwich structure undergoes
bending motion, this constraining layer causes a signicant shear deformation
in the constrained, or sandwiched viscoelastic layer, so that the energy can be
dissipated. The constrained layer damping treatment is more eective because
the viscoelastic materials dissipate energy mainly by shear deformation and the
constraining layer enhance the magnitude of shear deformation. Sandwich beam,
plate, and shell structures, as reviewed in [58], have been developed in practical
7
applications for damping augmentation.
Kerwin [31] presented the rst analysis of the simply supported sandwich
beam using a complex modulus to represent the viscoelastic core. His model
predicted attenuation of a traveling wave on either a simply supported or in-
nitely long beam. DiTaranto [16] extended Kerwins work by developing a sixth
order dierential equation of motion in terms of the longitudinal displacement.
Mead and Marcus [44] derived the same order dierential equation of motion in
terms of transverse motion of sandwich beam and presented wave propagation
solutions. Both works used the Kerwins basic assumptions, in which the vis-
coelastic core has a complex modulus and the energy is dissipated by the shear
deformations in the viscoelastic core, and both extended Kerwins work by al-
lowing for more general boundary conditions. Since the 1950s, there have been
many papers published on the theory and application of constrained layer damp-
ing. Many researchers used Kerwins assumptions, and investigated the validity
of assumptions, and damping or loss factor predictions. Closed-form solution
methods were typically used because nite element techniques were not readily
available for this class of problems. Nakra [46] and Mead [45] reviewed all this
area and they discussed the dierences and similarities between the theories.
The above theories laid the foundation for the analysis of sandwich beams with
constrained layer damping treatments.
Douglas and Yang [18, 19] studied the partial and fully passive constrained
layer damping (PCLD) treatment for beam structures. Experiments were con-
8
ducted to obtain the responses, which were compared to predictions based on
a progressive wave solution method. They considered two kinds of damping
mechanism in a sandwich beam structure. One was the shear damping in the
viscoelastic core which was due to the shear deformation as discussed before.
The other was the compression damping in the viscoelastic core. When there
was relative transverse motion in the constraining layer and base beam structure,
the viscoelastic core undergoes compression to dissipate energy. They concluded
that shear damping is a broad band mechanism for most engineering purposes.
The compression damping in the viscoelastic core must be considered only within
a certain spectral band. The damping of transverse dynamics of the thin sand-
wich beam is outside the spectral inuences of compression damping. Therefore,
the shear damping mechanism was mainly considered in thin sandwich struc-
tures. In 1982, Johnson et al [28] published a work on using modal strain energy
(MSE) methods for damping design by nite element methods. The available
FEM packages enable us to obtain the numerical solutions of sandwich struc-
tures much easier. But for the sandwich beam, two-dimensional nite elements
were used to model essential one-dimensional beam like structures.
Baz [4] rst replaced the constraining layer by piezo-ceramic material to
develop the active constrained layer damping (ACLD) treatment. The ACLD
treatment were rapidly adapted in structural vibration control [5, 34, 39, 40, 57].
There are two classes of methods to evaluate the beam with PCLD or ACLD
treatment, that is the assumed modes method (AM) in [34, 40] or conventional -
9
nite element method (CFEM) [39, 49], Additional damping models using internal
dissipation coordinates are incorporated to account for the frequency dependent
complex modulus. However, introduction of internal dissipation coordinates will
greatly increase the size of the numerical problem. For example, if the total de-
grees of freedom of a sandwich beam were N and three mini-oscillators were used
in the GHM method, this will lead to a system with total degrees of freedom
4N.
An eective and accurate method is needed to analyze sandwich beams with
the PCLD or ACLD treatments, that implicitly account for the frequency depen-
dent complex modulus of the constrained viscoelastic layer, without the addition
of internal dissipation degrees of freedom.
1.2.3 Sandwich Plates
Ross et. al. [54] studied simply-supported plates, and assumed a perfect interface
and compatibility of transverse displacement in each layer. Rao and Nakra [52]
[53] developed the basic equations of vibratory bending of asymmetric sandwich
plates with isotropic face-plates and viscoelastic core. Lu et. al. [41] developed a
nite element model and presented experimental data for sandwich plates under
free boundary conditions. Cupial and Niziol [15] used the variational method
to model sandwich plates with anisotropic face-plates, who presented simplied
forms of the equations for a symmetric plate or for specially orthotropic face
10
layers. The modal frequencies and modal loss factors predicted by the analysis
were compared well with the results in Johnson and Keinholz [28]. However,
they did not present experimental validation for the modal frequencies and loss
factors. Baz and Ro [6] studied plates with active constrained layers for vibration
control and a two-dimensional nite element model was developed to model the
sandwich plate structures. Experiments were conducted to show the response of
the sandwich plate with or without controller. Veeramani [60] followed Cupial
and Niziols work and developed the models for the sandwich plates with sur-
face bonded piezo-ceramic actuators. The face layers in the sandwich plate are
assumed to be anisotropic material and the viscoelastic core is assumed to have
frequency dependent complex shear modulus. Experiments were conducted to
test three sandwich plates with the isotropic face plates. The assumed modes
method was used to analyze the sandwich plate system using beam and rod
modes. More modes, especially in-plane modes, must be included in order to
achieve good frequency predictions compared to experimental data because these
modes need to capture the shear deformation in the viscoelastic core. Wang et
al [63] [64] improved the analyses to include the GHM method to account for the
frequency dependent complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core. The num-
ber of in-plane mode is still large to obtain the comparable frequency solutions.
Instead of resorting to FEM package, an improved assumed modes method is
needed to better predict the natural frequency, loss factors, mode shapes, and
responses of sandwich plates. Experimental data for these are needed as well.
11
1.3 Scope of the Present Research
Based on the literature reviews, sandwich beams and plates have been well stud-
ied. However, improving the eectiveness and accuracy of solutions for those
structures is still an important goal. We seek to develop higher order analyses of
the sandwich beams and plates using wave solutions and plate mode shapes. For
sandwich beam structures, we try to implicitly account for the frequency depen-
dent complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core and develop a spectral nite
element method based on a progressive wave solutions in the frequency domain.
For sandwich plate structures, we try to update the beam and rod modes used in
the assumed mode method using plate mode shape functions which were solved
from bending and in-plane vibration of an isotropic rectangular plate based on
the Kantorovich method. Experiments will be conducted to validate our analyt-
ical results for both sandwich beams and plates.
1.3.1 Sandwich Beam
To have suciently accurate higher mode number natural frequency estimates
for sandwich beam structures incorporating viscoelastic damping layers, a very
large number of degrees of freedom are required. This large number of degrees of
freedom is represented by the sum of the number of elements or assumed modes
needed for accuracy at higher frequency, plus the additional internal dissipation
coordinates that must be added to each element or assumed mode to account for
12
the frequency dependent properties of the viscoelastic core. We are especially
interested in developing a method that alleviates the large number of degrees of
freedom needed to analyze sandwich beams using CFEM or AM coupled with
internal dissipation coordinate methods such as GHM [23, 42] or ADF [38].
One possible approach was developed by Douglas [18] based on the govern-
ing equation given by Mead and Marcus [44]. The progressive wave solution
was used to calculate frequency response functions using an impedance matrix.
Douglas was the rst to explore wave solutions in order to implicitly account for
the frequency dependent complex modulus of viscoelastic core in the solution
method. However, the disadvantages of the progressive wave method described
by Douglas [18] are that if the boundary conditions or structural junctions (joints,
change in cross-section, etc.) change for a structure, the impedance matrix must
be rederived. The primary advantages of the progressive wave solution are: (a)
the method implicitly accounts for frequency dependent complex modulus of the
viscoelastic core without adding internal dissipation coordinates, (b) the method
solves for the frequency response directly from the governing equation without
resorting to the modal expansion or displacement interpolation functions of AM
and CFEM methods, respectively. The primary goal is to develop a nite el-
ement method in the frequency domain, based on wave propagation solutions,
that mitigates the disadvantages of Douglas progressive wave solution.
A spectral nite element (SFEM) methodology was formulated for isotropic
structures by Doyle [17]. This methodology can be extended to analyse sandwich
13
beams with isotropic face layers and a viscoelastic core. Baz [7] used a spectral
nite element model to describe the longitudinal waves in rods treated with
active constrained layer damping. We [62] developed a spectral nite element
model for a beam with PCLD treatment. Kim and Lee [32] also applied the
spectral nite element for the beam with ACLD treatment. Both spectral nite
element methods for sandwich beam analyses were developed simultaneously
and presented at same session of AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics, and
Materials Conference.
A small number of elements, as compared to CFEM methods, was needed to
calculate the frequency response function. To obtain accurate results using the
SFEM method, only as many elements are needed as there are junctions between
substructures of dierent impedance. Thus, the SFEM method requires that a
much smaller number of degrees of freedom be incorporated in the solution.
In contrast to the assumed modes and conventional nite element methods,
SFEM can directly handle the frequency dependent complex modulus of the
viscoelastic core, without adding any internal dissipation coordinates. Because
the SFEM calculates an impedance matrix at each frequency of interest, the
complex shear modulus can be adjusted at each frequency of interest as well.
The shape functions used in SFEM are based on the exact displacement of wave
solutions, as opposed to the polynomial interpolation functions typically used
by conventional FEM. We will present details of a SFEM analysis of the exural
vibration of sandwich beams with a viscoelastic core. The frequency response
14
functions (FRFs) are calculated using SFEM and compared to those computed
using CFEM analyses and validated by the experimental results.
1.3.2 Sandwich Plate
In our previous work [64], the assumed modes method was successfully applied
to the analysis of sandwich plates with isotropic face plates and a viscoelastic
core using beam and rod mode shapes. The modal frequencies were calculated
and validated by experiment by considering a plate with all four sides having
clamped boundary conditions. The numerical predictions agreed well with ex-
perimental solutions. In our previous analysis, rod and beam mode shapes were
only approximations of in-plane and bending mode shapes in x and y direction,
respectively. These mode shapes are only admissible functions and do not sat-
isfy the plate vibration governing equations. As discussed in our work, we need
to include more mode shapes, especially in-plane plate mode shapes to achieve
comparable accuracy compared to experimental data. The rst 25 in-plane and
bending plate mode shapes, which were approximated by rod modes and beam
bending modes, were included. The large number of mode shapes plus the in-
ternal coordinates in GHM method increase the size of the problem and add the
computational cost.
Our objective is to alleviate the computational cost by using fewer assumed
mode shapes. We will update the in-plane and bending mode shapes by directly
15
solving for the mode shapes of isotropic plate in-plane and bending vibrations
using the Kantorovich variational method [30]. The Kantorovich variational
method shows the equivalence of solving boundary values problem of partial
dierential equations (PDEs) and nding functions to minimize the integral of
associated total system energy. This equivalence enable us to obtain the ana-
lytical solutions of mode shapes for in-plane and out-of-plane plate vibrations.
An iteration scheme was developed to calculate the natural frequency and cor-
responding mode shapes. In the Kantorovich method, we will solve a series of
coupled ordinary dierential equations by assuming separable expression of solu-
tions. Bhat et al [8] solved plate bending mode shapes for boundary conditions
of combinations of simply-supported and clamped cases. We follow the same
method to solve out-of-plane (bending) plate mode shapes with free or clamped
boundary conditions. The analytical expressions for bending mode shapes are
described.
On the other hand, few papers discuss mode shapes of in-plane plate vibra-
tion. Recent, Farag and Pan [20, 21] presented frequency results of in-plane plate
vibration. They solved the governing equations by using rod mode shapes and
an iteration scheme is used to obtain the modal frequencies. In our analysis, the
Kantorovich method is applied to in-plane plate vibration problems [65]. Our
results are validated by Farag and Pan [21]. We will outline this method and
show how to obtain the mode shapes for plate in-plane and bending vibrations.
These mode shapes are used to analysis sandwich plate by the assumed modes
16
method. The new two-dimensional plate mode shapes will show improved com-
putational eciency because fewer number of mode shapes is needed to achieve
same accuracy as compared to those results using one-dimensional beam and rod
mode shapes. This leads us a higher order method for sandwich plate analysis.
1.4 Organization
This dissertation is organized as follows. Chapter 2 reviews the existing damp-
ing models for the viscoelastic materials and demonstrates the advantages and
drawbacks for each model. Chapter 3 discusses the analyses of sandwich beam.
The spectral nite element method is presented in details. The assumed modes
method and conventional nite element method are outlined as well. All the
analytical results are validated by experimental data. Chapter 4 sets up the
assumed mode analysis for the sandwich plate. The results of natural frequency
and loss factors are presented to compare with the previous experimental data.
A parametric study of temperature eects on the complex shear modulus is pre-
sented. We demonstrate that the natural frequency and loss factors vary with
the change of the temperature. The temperature issue is a big concern in the
design of the sandwich structures. Chapter 5 presents the Kantorovich method
for the plate bending and in-plane vibrations. The mode shape functions are cal-
culated and given in the closed-form solutions. Chapter 6 presents the updated
assumed modes method using plate modes for the analyses of sandwich plate.
17
Experiments are conducted to validate the results of bending frequency, mode
shape function and response for an aluminum plate, and to validate the results of
natural frequency, loss factor, mode shape function and response for a sandwich
plate with partial PCLD treatment. Finally, the conclusions are presented in
the Chapter 7. The mass and stiness matrices in the assumed modes method
for the sandwich plate analyses are present in the Appendix.
18
Chapter 2
Viscoelastic Materials
This chapter presents dynamic characteristics of viscoelastic damping materials
and outlines the dierent existing mathematical models. Classical represen-
tations of viscoelastic materials include the Maxwell model, the Kelvin-Voigt
model, and the Zener model (Standard Solid Model). We will show that these
models cannot capture the behavior of viscoelastic damping materials. Our ef-
forts then focus on some of the modern models including: the Fractional Deriva-
tives (FD) method [3], the complex modulus [47], the Golla-Hughes-McTavish
(GHM) method [23], the Augmenting Thermodynamic Fields (ATF) method
[37], and the Anelastic Displacement Field (ADF) method [38]. The merits
and limitations of the newer methods are also presented. The GHM method was
used primarily in this research because it can be easily adapted to the traditional
techniques of structural analyses.
19
2.1 Characteristics of Viscoelastic Materials
Viscoelastic damping is exhibited in many polymeric and glassy materials and
this internal damping mechanism is very important for damping augmentation
to reduce vibration and noise in structures. The damping arises from relax-
ation and recovery of the polymer network after it has been deformed. Because
viscoelastic materials exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics, they hold
unique properties. For example, in addition to undergoing an instantaneous dis-
placement, when subjected to a constant force, they also undergo creep over a
period of time. Alternatively, the force required to maintain a given deforma-
tion decreases over a period of time. This phenomenon is called relaxation. The
stress and stain constitutive relationship for a linear viscoelastic material is:
t
d(s)
(t) = E(t) + g(t s) ds (2.1)
ds
0
where (t) is the stress and, (t) is the strain and the kernel function g(t s) is
known as a relaxation function. The relaxation function is the stress response
to a unit-step strain input. Christensen [12] discussed the expected charac-
teristics of the relaxation function based on both reasonable hypotheses and
thermodynamic considerations. This linear hereditary stress and strain law can
be expressed in the Laplace domain. The Laplace transformation of the above
equation yields
(s) = sE(s)
(s) (2.2)
20
Substituting s = j into above equation yields a complex modulus
E
= E () + jE () = j E(j) (2.3)
where E () is the storage modulus and E () is the loss modulus. The loss
factor is dened as the non-dimensional quantity obtained by dividing the imag-
inary part of the complex modulus by the real part:
E ()
() = (2.4)
E ()
The loss factor measures the average ratio of energy dissipated from the vis-
coelastic material per radian to the maximum stored energy under a sinusoidal
force.
A complex modulus that describes the steady state response of the viscoelas-
tic material to a sinusoidal load is used to capture the characteristics of viscoelas-
tic materials. The complex modulus is dependent on the steady state frequency
of harmonic excitation as well as temperature. There are various techniques for
determining the complex modulus of viscoelastic materials experimentally. The
details of test setup, specimen selection criteria, test procedures and other rele-
vant issues are discussed by Nashif el at [47]. The important characteristics of
damping materials are presented in a temperature nomogram. The temperature
nomogram was developed by Jones [29] and is considered a standard graphical
presentation of complex modulus data. The data for the nomogram of viscoelas-
tic materials are usually provided by manufacturers. The storage shear modulus
and loss factors can be read from the nomogram. In the nomogram, a vertical
21
scale for frequency (Hz) is on the right, the shear modulus (GPa) as well as loss
factor are on the left, and the diagonal lines represent the temperature. Using
the nomogram, a complex shear modulus can be determined for a certain fre-
quency as well as temperature. In Figure 2.1 is presented the nomogram for 3M
Scotchdamp ISD112, a typical viscoelastic material. The complex shear modulus
data can be read from the nomogram, shown in Figure 2.2, in which the storage
modulus, G , and loss factors, , are plotted versus the frequency at temperature
of 20o C.
2.2 Classical Damping Models
Usually in engineering applications, a phenomenological approach is taken to
model viscoelastic behavior. There are three classical mathematical models for
viscoelastic damping. As mentioned in Section 2.1, elastic-type behavior of vis-
coelastic damping materials refers to an instantaneous incremental proportion-
ality of stress and strain. Visco-type behavior of viscoelastic materials infers
dashpot motion, where a component of stress is proportional to the rate of
change of strain. Therefore, a number of simple one dimensional models of vis-
coelastic materials are based on combinations of spring and dashpot elements
to represent the elastic and visco-type of motions respectively. These models
include the Maxwell, Kelvin-Voigt, and Zener (Standard Solid) models. We rst
present the mathematical representations of all three models and then demon-
22
strate drawbacks of each model.
The Maxwell model is presented in terms of serial combination of a viscous
damper and an elastic spring as shown in Figure 2.3(a). The relationship
of the stress and strain is
cd d(t) d(t)
(t) + = cd (2.5)
Es dt dt
The Kelvin-Voigt model is presented in terms of a parallel combination of
a viscous damper and an elastic spring as shown in Figure 2.3(b). The
relationship of the stress and strain is
d(t)
(t) = Es + cd (2.6)
dt
The Zener model is presented in terms of a serial and parallel combination
of a viscous damper and two elastic springs, as shown in Figure 2.3(c).
The relationship of the stress and strain is
d(t) d(t)
(t) + = E + E (2.7)
dt dt
The spring constants Es and Ep , act as Youngs modulus, and cd is a damping
coecient. The parameters , , and E are dened as:
cd
= (2.8)
Es + Ep
cd
= (2.9)
Ep
Es Ep
E = (2.10)
Es + Ep
23
As discussed in Section 2.1, viscoelastic materials have two unique properties
in the time domain: creep and relaxation. Figure 2.4 shows the time history of
the creep functions of the three models and Figure 2.5 shows the time history
of the relaxation functions of the three models. As we know, the characteristic
of the creep function should increase with time and converge to a nal value in
steady state and the characteristics of the relaxation functions should decrease
with time and reach a nal value in steady state. We note that the creep function
predicted by the Maxwell model and relaxation function predicted by the Kelvin-
Voigt model are unrealistic. The creep function predicted by the Maxwell model
keeps increasing with time and the relaxation function predicted by the Kelvin-
Vogit model keeps constant with time. Therefore, both the Maxwell and Kelvin-
Voigt models fail to capture time domain characteristics of viscoelastic materials.
On the other hand, the Zener model can predict both creep and relaxation
functions well in the time domain. We need to access the realization of the
Zener model in the frequency domain as well. We assume harmonic responses of
stress and strain as follows:
= 0 ejt (2.11)
= 0 ejt (2.12)
Then substituting Eqs. 2.11 and 2.12 in to Eq. 2.7 yields
0 = E (1 + j)0 (2.13)
24
where
E(1 + 2)
E = (2.14)
1 + 2 2
( )
= (2.15)
1 + 2
The above equations show that the complex modulus is a function of frequency
which reects some aspects of real viscoelastic behavior. However, when we com-
pare the Bode plot of E and loss factor to experimental data, the variation of
E and with frequency is much more rapid than that observed in experimental
data. Therefore, the Zener model is only an approximation and needs to be
improved to match the experimental data.
The limitation of the Zener model can be reduced by including additional
derivatives of and , as follows:
dk (t) dk (t)
(t) + k = E + E k (2.16)
dtk dtk
k k
where k is an integer. This generalized standard solid model improves the Zener
model but a drawback of this improved model is that a substantial number of
terms are needed to capture the viscoelastic properties over a wide frequency
range.
2.3 Modern Damping Models
The complex modulus of viscoelastic materials was developed in the frequency
domain and can be experimentally measured in a straightforward fashion. If we
25
can develop our structural analysis techniques in the frequency domain, we can
take advantage of experimental data directly and implicitly, there is no need to
develop explicit damping models. Otherwise, we must incorporate a time domain
damping model that can account for the frequency dependent complex modulus.
Structural analysis techniques are mainly developed in the time domain, so a time
domain representation of complex modulus is a must. Since the 1980s, damping
models have been developed that are based on the phenomenological method.
We outline some of these modern damping models for viscoelastic materials and
address the merits and limitations of each model separately.
2.3.1 Fractional Derivatives Model
Bagley and Tovik [3] developed a fractional derivative model for describing vis-
coelastic behavior. This model was motivated by reducing the number of terms
in the generalized standard solid model as discussed in Section 2.2. The rep-
resentation of the complex modulus of viscoelastic materials in Laplace domain
is:

E0 + E1 s
E = (2.17)
1 + bs
There are ve parameters, E0 , E1 , b, and , which are used to in order to
curve t the experimental data. The advantage of this model is that it closely
ts the experimental data over a signicant range of frequency. The major
drawbacks include the awkward assembly of the global equations of motion and
26
the large cumbersome system matrices produced. This model is good only in the
frequency domain, because taking the inverse Laplace transform of a frequency
domain representation of complex modulus based on a fractional derivative is
dicult, and can be done in an approximate way.
2.3.2 AFT and ADF Models
Some of the shortcomings of frequency models can be overcome by using time
domain representation of viscoelastic materials. A number of approaches have
been developed to account for the frequency dependent properties of viscoelastic
materials while also providing time domain analysis. These include the Golla-
Hughes-McTavish (GHM) method [23], the Augmenting Thermodynamic Fields
(ATF) method [37], and the Anelastic Displacement Field (ADF) method [38].
Instead of deriving damping force, these methods use additional internal dissi-
pation coordinates to account for the frequency dependent complex modulus.
These methods can be easily incorporated into nite element models that are
capable of predicting dynamic response of a structure with viscoelastic material.
The Augmenting Thermodynamic Fields (ATF) method was developed by
Lesieutre and Mingori [37]. It is a time domain continuum model of material
damping that preserves the characteristic frequency dependent damping and
modulus of real materials. Irreversible thermodynamics were used to develop
coupled material constitutive relations and partial dierential equations of evo-
27
lution. These equations are implemented in a numerical solution of the nite
element method. The details of the model were presented by Lesieutre and
Mingori [37].
The ATF method describes the interaction of the displacement eld with
irreversible processes occurring at the materials level, while the Anelastic Dis-
placement Field (ADF) method by Lesieutre et al [38, 39] focuses on the eects
of such processes on the displacement rather than the process themselves. The
total displacement eld is considered to consist of two parts: an elastic part and
an anelastic part. The ATF method provides a good physical explanation of
viscoelastic damping mechanism in the structure, while the ADF method leads
to straightforward nite element solutions because the anelastic displacement
elds are similar to the elastic displacement elds.
Because both ATF and ADF methods lead to a rst order damping model,
only state space forms can be used when combined with structural analytical
models. An unfortunate consequence of using this method is that the global
mass matrix is singular.
2.3.3 Golla-Hughes-McTavish Model
The Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) method is a technique for deriving viscoel-
stic nite elements from commonly used elastic nite elements and measurements
of frequency dependent complex modulus. Auxiliary dissipation coordinates,
28
which are internal to each viscoelastic element, permit general description of
frequency dependent viscoelastic material properties via the mini-oscillator as
shown in Figure 2.6. The eect of the mini-oscillator includes a second order
rational function involving three parameters. These mini-oscillators are used to
curve t the experimental data in the frequency domain, and a time domain
representation of viscoelastic model can be achieved through Laplace transfor-
mation.
The mini-oscillator mechanical analogy, as shown in Figure 2.6, is an equiva-
lent system with respect to the dynamic stress and strain behavior of viscoelastic
material associated with the displacement q. The dissipation coordinate z ap-
pears as an augmenting state variable which has no direct physical signicance.
The mass term of the mini-oscillator does not represent a real mass in the struc-
tural system and does not contribute to the kinetic energy. The mass, spring
and damper system is used to represent the behavior of the viscoelastic material
compared to spring and damper combinations in the Zener model as discussed
in Section 2.2. The inertial eects due to the introduction of mass in GHM
method help us capture the slower change of complex modulus with frequency.
This is why the GHM method is very accurate compared to general standard
solid Zener model.
In the GHM method, the complex shear modulus is written in the Laplace
29
domain as:

N 2
s + 2k k s
G
= G0 1 + k (2.18)
k s2 + 2k k s + k2
where G
is the complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic material, and the
factor G0 is the equilibrium value of the modulus, i.e. the nal value of the
relaxation function, and s is the Laplace domain operator. The parameters are
obtained from the curve tting to the complex modulus data for a particular
viscoelastic material (Lam, Inman and Saunders, 1997). The number of terms,
N, retained in the expression is determined from the high or low frequency
dependence of the complex modulus. For example, in order to capture the
complex shear modulus in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 500 Hz of the
viscoelastic materials shown in Figure 2.2, three mini-oscillators were used in
the curve t. The residual of the optimization is of the order 102 over the
desired frequency range. The results of storage modulus and loss factors which
were predicted by the GHM method were plotted versus frequency and compared
to experimental data in Figure 2.7. The parameters used in three mini-oscillators
are:
G0 = 1.0e5 (2.19)

1 2 3 = 1.59 6.6 32.0 (2.20)

1 2 3 = 1.0e4 2.0e4 0.5e4 (2.21)

1 2 3 = 348.8 56.4 1.0 (2.22)
The time domain relaxation function found using the GHM method can be
30
expressed as:

N
b2k e b1k t
b1k e b2k t
G(t) = G0 1 + k (2.23)
k
b2k b1k
where

2
b1k , b2k = k k k 1 (2.24)
The time domain function of G(t) exponentially decays with time t if b1k and
b2k are distinct real constants and captures the relaxation properties of the vis-
coelastic material.
We have shown that the mini-oscillator is used in the GHM method to equiv-
alently represent the behavior of viscoelastic material. The parameters in the
mini-oscillator term are used to curve t the experimental data of the storage
modulus and loss factor versus frequency and temperature. After the parame-
ters are determined, the GHM method is incorporated into conventional dynamic
structural analytical techniques for structures with viscoelastic components. In
general, the structural dynamics equation can be expressed in the Laplace do-
main as:
Ms2 q(s) + Ke q(s) + G

Kq(s) = f (s) (2.25)
where, M is a mass matrix, Ke is a stiness matrix contributed from elastic
components in the structures, and G

is a complex shear modulus of a viscoelastic
material. We assume there is only one viscoelastic material on the structure. An
auxiliary coordinate z is introduced
k2
zk (s) = x(s) (2.26)
s2 + 2k k s + k2
31
Using this new dissipation coordinate, Equation 2.25 can be rewritten as:

M 0 2 0 0
s + s+ (2.27)

0 12 K0 0 2 K0

Ke + K0 + K0 K0 q(s) f
= (2.28)

K0 K0 z(s) 0
The Laplace domain expression of the governing equation has a second order
time domain realization:

M 0 q 0 0 q
+ (2.29)

0 12 K0 z 0 2 K0 z

Ke + K0 + K0 K0 q F
+

=

K0 K0 z 0
where
K0 = G0 K (2.30)
We demonstrate the case for only one mini-oscillator, N = 1. Because K0
is usually positive semi-denite, the above mass matrix may not be positive
denite. To remedy this situation, spectral decomposition of K0 is used, as
suggested by McTavish and Hughes [42]
K0 = G0 K = G0 RRT (2.31)
where is a diagonal matrix of the nonzero eigenvalues of K and the columns
of R correspond to orthonormalized eigenvectors. The above case of a single
32
mini-oscillator term can be easily extended to a multi-oscillator model. The
general form of the GHM method [42] is formed using the stiness matrix, K;
and damping matrix, D; and mass matrix, M are given by:

Ke + K0 (1 + ) 1 R n R

1 RT 0
1 0
K= (2.32)

.. ..
0
. 0 .

n RT 0 0 n

M 0 0

1 12
..
0 0 .
M =

1
(2.33)
.. ..
. 0 . 0

0 0 n 12
n

0 0 0

0 1 211
..
0 .
D=

(2.34)
.. ..
. 0 . 0

0 0 n 2nn
where
= G0
R = R
Finally, we obtain the constant mass, damping, and stiness matrix for the
structure with viscoelastic materials. The size of our original problem increases
33
because of the introduction of dissipation coordinates that are internal degrees
of freedom. The GHM method has been successfully applied to the conventional
dynamic analyses for structures with viscoelastic materials.
2.4 Summary
In this chapter, we showed that the frequency dependent complex modulus
method can be used to represent viscoelastic materials. Experimental data are
presented in the nomogram, which is a master curve and the complex shear
modulus of viscoelastic materials are functions of frequency and temperature.
We reviewed three classical damping models, that are the Maxwell model, the
Kelvin model, and the Zener model. They cannot be applied to viscoelastic
damping materials, because they fail to capture the behavior of the viscoelas-
tic materials. Some modern damping models were discussed as well. They are
the fractional derivative (FD) method, the Augmenting Thermodynamic Fields
(ATF) method, the Anelastic Displacement Field (ADF), and the Golla-Hughes-
McTavish (GHM) method. The FD model is a good model only in the frequency
domain. In the AFT, the ADF, and the GHM method, the additional internal
dissipation coordinates were used to account for the frequency dependent com-
plex modulus of viscoelastic materials. We adopted the GHM method in this
research, which is most applicable to structural analysis. But we need to develop
methods that implicitly account for the frequency dependent complex modulus
34
without adding internal dissipation coordinates which increase degrees of free-
dom of the system.
35
Figure 2.1: Nomogram of the viscoelastic material, 3M ISD 112.
7
10
6
10
5
10
4
10
Storage Modulus
3
10
2
10 Loss Factors
1
10
0
10
1
10
0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10
Frequency: Hz
Figure 2.2: Storage Modulus and Loss Factor Vs. frequency at temperature
20o C for the viscoelastic material 3M ISD 112.
36
Es Cd
(a) Maxwell Model
Es
Cd
(b) Kelvin-Voigt Model
Es
Ep
Cd
(c) Zener Model
Figure 2.3: Classical models of viscoelastic materials
(t)
ll
xwe
Ma Zener
igt
in -Vo t
Kelv
Figure 2.4: Creep functions for three models
37
(t)
Ze
ne
Kelvin-Voigt
r
Maxw
ell t
Figure 2.5: Relaxation functions for three models
Figure 2.6: The mini-oscillators mechanical analogy in GHM method
38
7
10
Expt.
6
GHM Fit
10
5
10
4
10
Storage Modulus
3
10
2 Loss Factors
10
1
10
0
10
1
10
0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10
Frequency: Hz
Figure 2.7: The GHM prediction of complex shear modulus using three mini-
oscillators
39
Chapter 3
Comparison of Analyses of Sandwich
Beams
The structural system under consideration in this study is a three-layer sandwich
beam which is comprised of two isotropic face layers sandwiching a viscoelastic
core. Although this class of sandwich structures has been investigated exten-
sively, it is examined here because of its simplicity and importance in understand-
ing the fundamental physics of sandwich structures incorporating a viscoelastic
core. First, we present the governing equations for sandwich beam and discuss
the basic assumptions for this type of structures. Our contribution to sandwich
beam analyses is to develop a spectral nite element method (SFEM) in the
frequency domain. This SFEM provides an exact solution for sandwich beam
because the shape functions are duplicated from progressive wave solutions. Be-
cause this method was developed in the frequency domain, there is no additional
damping model needed and the frequency dependent complex shear modulus of
40
viscoelastic core can be accounted implicitly. We compare this method to general
techniques of structural analyses, such as assumed modes (AM) and conventional
nite element method (CFEM). The GHM method was applied to both analyses
in order to account for the frequency dependent complex shear modulus of the
viscoelastic core. Two examples of beams with passive constrained layer damp-
ing(PCLD) treatment were considered. One has 75% length of PCLD treatment
as shown in Figure 3.1 and the other has 50% length of PCLD treatment as
shown in Figure 3.2. Experiments were conducted to validate the analyses for
those two beams. This chapter has been accepted for the publication by the
ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics and in Reference [66].
3.1 Assumptions and Governing Equations
3.1.1 Assumptions
Figure 3.3 shows the cross section of beam with PCLD treatment. The three
displacements considered are the longitudinal displacements, u1 and u3 in the
face layers 1 and 3, and the transverse displacement w for the whole sandwich
beam. Mead [45] summarized the assumptions used in the modeling of beam
with PCLD treatment. We modied it and included the longitudinal eects in
the face layers. The assumptions are:
41
1. the viscoelastic core carries shear only and has a frequency dependent complex
shear modulus;
2. the face layers are elastic and isotropic and suer no transverse shear defor-
mation;
3. the inertia of transverse and longitudinal eects in face layers are considered;
the rotatory inertia of face layers are neglected and the viscoelastic core
only contributes to the transverse inertia;
4. all points on the plate move with the same transverse displacement;
5. no slip occurs at the interfaces of the core and face layers.
The above assumptions will be violated if the thickness of the viscoelastic core is
of the same order as the base beam or constraining layer. In this case, the base
beam and constraining layer will not have the same transverse displacement. A
compression damping mechanism can occur in the viscoelastic core because of
the relative transverse motion between base beam and constraining layer. This
mechanism was discussed by Douglas [18]. In our studies, the viscoelastic core is
very thin relative to isotropic face layers, with a maximum thickness of 10 mil.
The shear damping is dominant in the viscoelastic core and covers a wide range of
frequency for a thin sandwich beam, as shown in [18], so compression damping is
negligible. Austin [1] discussed thickness eects in viscoelastic core, constraining
layer and base beam and evaluated the assumptions for the dierent sandwich
42
beam congurations. Our assumptions are validated for our thin layer sandwich
beam congurations. Based on above assumptions, the shear deformations in
the viscoelastic core can be expressed in terms of displacements in face layers,
as shown in Figure 3.4. The shear strain is:
d w (u1 u3 )
= + (3.1)
h2 x h2
where
h1 + h3
d = h2 + (3.2)
2
3.1.2 Governing Equations
We can write the kinetic energy T and potential energy U of a sandwich beam:
l 2 2 2
1 w u1 u3
T = m + m1 + m3 dx
2 t t t
0
l 2 2
1 u1 u3
U = E1 A1 + E3 A3
2 x x
0
2 2
w
+Dt + GA2 2 dx (3.3)
x2
where
m = m1 + m2 + m3 (3.4)
Dt = E1 I1 + E3 I3 (3.5)
The complex shear modulus, G

, is composed of two components, the in-phase
(real) part, G , and quadrature part (imaginary) part, G . They are dened in
43
the frequency domain. But the total energy of a sandwich beam will be a com-
plex number if we introduce the complex shear modulus G

into the expression
directly. This does not make sense physically. Therefore, we use the real compo-
nent of shear modulus, G = G, in our derivation and replace it by the complex
shear modulus after the governing equation of motion has been derived. More
strictly, the complex shear modulus can only be used in the frequency domain
for the forced response because it was developed under a sinusoidal force input.
However, we still use it in the time domain as a simple representation. If we
want to represent the complex shear modulus in the time domain, an additional
damping model has to be introduced to capture the behavior of viscoelastic ma-
terials, for example, the GHM method. The equation of motion can be obtained
by applying the Hamiltonian principle:
t2
(T U)dt = 0 (3.6)
t1
The resulting equations of motion are as follows and the complex shear modulus,
G
, was introduced to replace the in-phase component.

2w 4w G
bd u1 u3 2w
m 2 + Dt 4 = +d 2
t x h2 x x x
2 2

u1 u1 Gb w
m1 2 + E1 A1 2 = u1 u3 + d
t x h2 x
2 2

u3 u3 G b w
m3 2 + E3 A3 2 = u1 u3 + d (3.7)
t x h2 x
The associated boundary conditions on x = 0 and x = l are:
44
u1 = 0 or E1 A1 u
x
1
=0
u3 = 0 or E3 A3 u
x
3
=0
G bd 3
w = 0 or h2
Dt xw3 = 0
w 2
x
=0 or Dt xw2 = 0
If we neglect the longitudinal inertia eects in face layer 1 and 3, the equations
reduce to the same forms as shown in Mead and Marcus [44].
3.2 Spectral Finite Element Method
In the CFEM, polynomial shape functions are used. In order to capture the ex-
act dynamics, many elements are needed because of lower order approximation
for displacement functions. CFEM can provide a standard matrix representation
for structural problems. The elemental mass and stiness matrices can be easily
calculated for dierent types of elements. For a whole structural analyses, a sim-
ple assembling procedure is conducted to account for the boundary conditions,
junctions, and load location.
The progressive wave solution method can provide an exact solution for the
dynamic problems in the frequency domain. A disadvantage of the progressive
wave solution is that the matrix has to be reconstructed every time in order
to adapt to the changes of boundary conditions, junctions, and loading. An
idea was developed to combine the advantages of both CFEM method and pro-
gressive wave solution method. For a uniform rod and beam, we can directly
45
solve the governing equations of motion under harmonic excitation. The steady
state solutions are found by solving the coecients in the wave solution repre-
sentations at each frequency. One further step is to develop the nodal degrees
of freedom to solve for these wave coecients in order to formulate a dynamic
stiness matrix. The shape functions used here were duplicated from progressive
wave solutions. For one-dimensional isotropic rod and beam structures, Doyle
[17] presented the dynamic stiness matrix. SFEM is based on Fast Fourier
Transformation (FFT) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transformation (IFFT). Doyle
presented a detailed discussion for the FFT/IFFT based method in structural
dynamic analyses. This methodology has been applied to solve a sandwich rod
with active constrained layer damping treatment by considering longitudinal
waves only [7]. We will extend it to analyze sandwich beams with two isotropic
face layers and a viscoelastic core [62]. Because exact shape functions are du-
plicated from progressive wave solutions, only a few elements, as compared to
CFEM methods, are needed to calculate the frequency response functions. Only
as many elements are needed as there are junctions between substructures of dif-
ferent impedance. We will demonstrate the application of SFEM for sandwich
beam analyses.
46
3.2.1 Isotropic Rod and Beam
The SFEM formulae for the isotropic rod and beam were given by Doyle [17].
Here we summarize the spectral nite element method for the isotropic rod and
beam. For a rod, the kinetic and potential energy for longitudinal vibration are:
l 2
1 u
T = m dx
2 t
0
l 2
1 u
U = EA dx (3.8)
2 x
0
where EA a longitudinal stiness found by the product of Youngs modulus and
area of cross section; m is the mass per unit length; u is the displacement along
the axial x direction and l is the length of a rod element. The governing equation
is
2 u(x, t) 2 u(x, t)
EA = m (3.9)
x2 t2
Considering a steady state solution for the displacement u, it yields
u(x, t) = u(x, )ejt (3.10)
Substituting the above solution into Eq. 3.9, the nal progressive wave solution
of u is
u(x, ) = Aeikx + Beikx (3.11)
where the wave number is given by

m
k= (3.12)
EA
47
A and B are the unknown wave coecients. Now a two node element is consid-
ered and the nodal displacement u1 and u2 are chosen to solve for the unknown
A and B in the progressive wave solution expression. Then we can reconstruct
the total energy expression in terms of nodal displacements of u1 and u2 in the
frequency domain. It is
1
V = T + U = {q}T ke {q}T (3.13)
2
where the nodal displacement vector q is dened as:
{q} = { u1 u2 }T (3.14)
ke is a 2 2 dynamic stiness matrix which was given by Doyle [17]:

EAik 1 + ei2kl 2eikl
ke () = (3.15)
1 ei2kl
2eikl 1 + ei2kl
We have a spectral nite element for rod longitudinal vibration. The same
procedure as in CFEM is followed to assemble the elements for rod structures.
A time domain force function is transformed to a frequency domain spectrum
through the FFT transform and a time domain realization of a solution can be
achieved by the IFFT transform.
We can follow the same procedure to establish a dynamic stiness matrix
for an isotropic Bernoulli-Euler beam under transverse bending vibration. The
governing equation is:
4 w(x, t) 2 w(x, t)
EI +m =0 (3.16)
x4 t2
48
where EI is the exural stiness, m is the mass per unit length, and w is the
displacement of transverse motion of a beam. The transverse displacement under
harmonic excitation can be expressed as a wave expansion:
w(x, ) = Aeikx + Beikx + Cekx + Dekx (3.17)
where the wave number is:

14
m 2
k= (3.18)
EI
Similar to the rod case, a two node element is chosen which is same as conven-
tional beam nite element. The corresponding nodal degrees of freedom are two
w1 w2
transverse displacements, w1 and w2 and the slopes at two nodes, x
and x
.
After mathematical manipulations, we can obtain a symmetric 4 4 dynamic
stiness matrix K.

3
ik ik 3 k3 k 3

k2 k2 k 2 k 2

K = EI

ik 3 eikl ik 3 eikl k 3 ekl k 3 ekl

k 2 eikl k 2 eikl k 2 ekl k 2 ekl
1
1 1 1 1

ik k
ik k

(3.19)
ikl kl
e e ikl
e kl
e

ikeikl ikeikl kekl k1 ekl
This dynamic stiness can be assembled to analyse the beam structure. The
shape functions duplicated from progressive wave solutions provide an exact
49
solution for the displacement at each frequency.
3.2.2 Sandwich Beam
We have obtained the dynamic stiness matrix for isotropic rod and beam struc-
tures. Now we will extend this methodology to sandwich beams with a viscoelas-
tic core. For a spectral nite element method, we assume a harmonic motion at
frequency . The general steady state solutions for displacement u1 , u3 and w
can be expressed as:
w(x, t) = w(x, )ejt
u1 (x, t) = u1 (x, )ejt
u3 (x, t) = u3 (x, )ejt (3.20)
By substituting the above expression into Eq. 3.7, we obtain governing equations
in the frequency domain:

2 4 w G
bd u1 u3 2 w
m w + Dt 4 = +d 2
x h2 x x x
2

2 u1 Gb w
m1 u1 + E1 A1 2 = u1 u3 + d
x h2 x
2

2 u3 G b w
m3 u3 + E3 A3 2 = u1 u3 + d (3.21)
x h2 x
50
The solutions for u1 , u3 and w can be expressed in terms of an expansion of
waves:
w = W ekx
u1 = U1 ekx
u3 = U3 ekx (3.22)
When substituting the above expressions into Eq. 3.21, the wave numbers k
can be determined by assuming non-zero solutions for W , U1 and U3 . The
characteristic equation is:
4 + 3 3 + 2 2 + 1 + 0 = 0 (3.23)
where
m1 2 m3 2 G
b G
b G
bd2
3 = +
E1 A1 E3 A3 E1 A1 h2 E3 A3 h2 Dt h2
2
2
2 2

m G bd m1 m3 m1 m3 4
2 = + +
Dt Dt h2 E1 A1 E3 A3 E1 A1 E3 A3

G b
(m1 2 + m3 2 )
E1 A1 E3 A3 h2
mm1 4 mm3 4 G
bd2 m1 m3 4
1 =
Dt E1 A1 Dt E3 A3 Dt E1 A1 E3 A3 h2
m 2 G
b 1 1
+ ( + )
Dt h2 E1 A1 E3 A3
mm1 m3 6 m 4 G
b
0 = + (m1 + m3 )
Dt E1 A1 E3 A3 Dt E1 A1 E3 A3
and
= k2
51

This equation provides four roots of 1,2,3,4 and k = 1 , etc. The solution
results in eight values of k. Therefore, the general expression for w, u1 and u3
can be rewritten as:

4

w = ai eki x + ai eki x
i=1
4

u1 = bi eki x + bi eki x
i=1

4

u3 = ci eki x + ci eki x (3.24)
i=1
When substituting the above equations into Eq. 3.21 and solving for u1
and u3 in terms of w, we will only have eight unknown wave coecients ai , ai
(i = 1, 4). So bi , bi and ci , ci can be written as:
bi = Yi ai
bi = bi
ci = i bi
ci = ci i = 1, 4 (3.25)
where

1 h2 2 4
2
Yi = m + Dt ki dki (3.26)
(1 + i )ki G
bd
m1 2 + E1 A1 ki2
i = i = 1, 4 (3.27)
m3 2 + E3 A3 ki2
Again we have eight unknown wave coecients ai , ai (i = 1, 4). For the two
node spectral nite element shown in Figure 3.5, the eight nodal displacements
52
are needed to solve the unknown wave coecients. They are:
T
{q} = u11 u31 w1 w1
u12 u32 w2 w2 (3.28)
x x
Now we can use nodal displacements to solve for wave coecients of ai , ai
(i = 1, 4). Thus
{q} = H{A} (3.29)
where A is a vector of independent wave coecients and is dened as:
T
A= a1 a2 a3 a4 a1 a2 a3 a4 (3.30)
H is a 8 8 transformation matrix which can be partitioned to

H= H1 H2 (3.31)
where the sub matrices H1 and H2 are:

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4

Y
1 1 2 Y2 3 Y3 4 Y4

1 1 1 1

k1 k2 k3 k4
H1 =

(3.32)
Y ek1 l
1 Y2 ek2 l Y3 ek3 l Y4 ek4 l

1 Y1 ek1 l 2 Y2 ek2 l 3 Y3 ek3 l 4 Y4 ek4 l

ek1 l ek2 l ek3 l ek4 l

k1 ek1 l k2 ek2 l k3 ek3 l k4 ek4 l
53

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4

Y 2 Y2 3 Y3 4 Y4
1 1

1 1 1 1

k1 k2 k3 k4

H2 =

(3.33)

Y ek1 l Y2 ek2 l Y3 ek3 l Y4 ek4 l
1

1 Y1 ek1 l 2 Y2 ek2 l 3 Y3 ek3 l 4 Y4 ek4 l

ek1 l ek2 l ek3 l ek4 l

k1 ek1 l k2 ek2 l k3 ek3 l k4 ek4 l
u1 , u3 and w can be expressed in terms of the nodal displacements as
w = {z}H 1 {q} = Nw {q}
u1 = {z}Yb H 1 {q} = Nu1 {q}
u3 = {z}Yc H 1 {q} = Nu3 {q} (3.34)
The shape functions are dened as
Nw = {z}H 1 (3.35)
Nu1 = {z}Yb H 1 (3.36)
Nu3 = {z}Yc H 1 (3.37)
54
where

Y1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 Y2 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 Y3 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 Y4 0 0 0 0

Yb = (3.38)

0 0 0 0 Y1 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 Y2 0 0

Y3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Y4

1 Y1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 2 Y2 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 3 Y3 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 4 Y4 0 0 0 0

Yc = (3.39)

0 0 0 0 1 Y1 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 2 Y2 0 0

0 3 Y3
0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Y4

{z} = ek1 x ek2 x ek3 x ek4 x ek1 x ek2 x ek3 x ek4 x (3.40)
The spectral nite model of the sandwich beam can now be developed using the
total spectral energy Es of an element at length of l.

l 2 2 2
1 du1 du3 d2 w
Es = (E1 A1 + E3 A3 + Dt
2 dx dx dx2
0
+G
A2 2 m 2 w2 m1 2 u21 m3 2 u23 )dx (3.41)
55
Substituting the expression of displacement u1 , u3 and w as shown in Eq 3.34, yields
1
Es = {q T }Ke {q} (3.42)
2
where Ke is a dynamic stiness of sandwich beam element. The expansion of the
dynamic stiness is:

l
E1 A1 Nu 1 Nu 1 + E3 A3 Nu 3 Nu 3 + Dt Nw Nw
T T T
Ke =
0
+G
A2 N T N m 2 NwT Nw

m1 2 NuT1 Nu1 m3 2 NuT3 Nu3 dx (3.43)
where
Nu1 Nu3 + dNw

N= (3.44)
h2
and (.) denotes a derivative with respect to x.
Compared to the previous dynamic stiness matrix results for an isotropic rod
and beam, we cannot obtain an explicit expression for the elements of the dynamic
stiness matrix in the sandwich beam case. However we can use numerical integration
to obtain all the entries in the dynamics stiness matrix. One special case is when
the base beam and constraining layer are of the same material. Then in Eq. 3.27, the
parameter i will be reduced to:
h1
i =
h3
This constant ratio can cause a singularity in the matrix H. To remedy this case, we
assume a perturbation of material density. In our calculation we assume that:
m1 = bh1
m3 = (1 + )bh3
56
Usually = 0.0001 will give us a stable calculation of the numerical inverse of the
matrix H.
In the SFEM method, we do not need to use additional internal coordinates to
model the viscoelastic core as shown in the GHM method. The frequency dependent
complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core were implicitly accounted in the fre-
quency domain because the SFEM method was developed in the frequency domain.
Also the interpolation functions were duplicated from a progressive wave solution.
Then, the SFEM leads to a higher order method for the sandwich beam analysis.
3.3 Conventional Finite Element Method
Nostrand et al [49] provided a nite element model for the beam with active constrained
layer damping (ACLD). The combinations of one-dimensional rod and beam nite
elements were used to discretize the system. We followed a similar approach to study
the dynamics of beam with PCLD [61]. A two-node element was used to approximate
the displacement eld for longitudinal displacements in face 1 and 3, u1 and u3 , and
transverse displacement w. The nodal degrees of freedom are, as shown in Figure 3.6:
T
{q} = u11 u12 u31 u32 w1 w1
w2 w2 (3.45)
x x
Therefore, in face layer 1 and 3, the longitudinal displacements u1 and u3 are:

u
11
u1 = 1 xl xl

u12

u
31
u3 = 1 l l
x x

(3.46)
u32
57
And the transverse displacement w for the whole sandwich beam is:

w1

w
1
w= 2 3
1 3 xl2 + 2 xl3
2
x 2 xl + x3 2
3 xl2 2 xl3
3
xl +
2 x3 (3.47)
l2 l2

w2

w2

where l is the length of sandwich beam element, and (.) denote the derivatives respect
to x. Substituting the above equations, Eq. 3.46 and Eq. 3.47 into Eq. 3.3, yields
1 T
T = {q }Me {q}
2
1 T
U = {q }Ke {q} (3.48)
2
and we can calculate the elemental mass matrix, Me , and stiness matrix, Ke . Here
we present the nal results for both matrices. The stiness matrix is:

k11 k12
ke =

(3.49)
k12 k22
where

G A 2 l G A 2 l
+EA1
l 3h22
EA
l
1
+ 6h22
G3hA22 l G6hA22 l
2 2

EA1 + G A2 l EA1 G A 2 l
G6hA22 l

G3hA22 l
6h22
+ 3h22
=
l l 2 2
k11
G A G A G A 2 l
G3hA22 l 6h22
2l EA3
+ 3h22
2l
EA 3
l + 6h22
2
l

G A 2 l G A 2 l
G6hA22 l G3hA22 l EA 3
l + 6h22
EA3
l + 3h22
2 2

G A 2 d G A 2 d A d
G2hA22 d 12h22 2h22
G12h2
2
2 2

G A 2 d G12h
A2 d G A 2 d G A 2 d
2h22 2 2h22 12h22
k12 =

2

G A 2 d G A G A 2 d
2h22
12h22
2d
G2hA22 d 12h22
2

G A 2 d G A 2 d
2h22 12h22
G2hA22 d G12h
A2 d
2
2 2
58

12Dt 6G A2 d2 6Dt G A2 d2 6G A2 d2 G A2 d2
+
l3 5lh22 l2
+ 10h22
12D
l3
t
5lh22
6Dt
l2
+ 10h22

6Dt + G A2 d2 4Dt 2G A2 d2 l
6D t
G A2 d2 2Dt
G A2 d2 l
l2 10h22
+ 15h22 l2 10h22 30h22
=
l l
k22
12Dt 6G A2 d2 G A2 d2 6G A2 d2 G A2 d2
l3 5lh2 6D
l2
t
10h22
12Dt
l3 + 5lh22
6D
l2
t
10h22
2

6Dt G A2 d2 2Dt G A2 d2 l G A2 d2 2G A2 d2 l
l2 + 10h2 l 30h22
6D
l2
t
10h22
4Dt
l + 15h22
2
The mass matrix is:

M11 044
Me =

(3.50)
044 M22
where

2m1 m1 0 0

m
l

1 2m1 0 0

M11 =
6

0 0 2m3 m3

0 0 m3 2m3

156 22l 54 13l

22l 2 3l
ml
4l 13l

M22 =
420
54 13l 156 22l

13l 3l 22l 4l2
where G
is a complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core. The GHM method
has to be used to account for the frequency dependent properties of shear modulus as
discussed in section 2.3.3.
3.4 Assumed Modes Method
The simplest analytical technique is the assumed modes method. The displacements
u1 , u3 , and w are assumed as an expansion of the mode shapes functions which are
59
obtained from uniform rod longitudinal vibration and beam transverse bending vibra-
tion.

n
w = Wi iw
i=1

m
u1 = U1i ui 1
i=1

m
u3 = U3i ui 3 (3.51)
i=1
where n is total number of bending modes and m is total number of longitudinal
vibration modes included. Those beam bending mode shapes and rod extension mode
shapes are available in Chapter 6 of [27]. Substituting the above expressions for the
displacement functions into the sandwich beam energy equation as shown in Eq. 3.3
and using Lagranges equation, we can obtain a second order dierential equation
M q + (Ke + Kv )q = F (3.52)
where
Kv = G
K
where M is a mass matrix and Ke and Kv are stiness matrices due to elasticity
and damping respectively, F is a discretized forcing vector, and q is the known modal
amplitudes as shown in Eq. 3.51. Details were presented in [61]. Similarly, the GHM
method was used to account for the frequency dependent complex shear modulus of
the viscoelastic core.
60
3.5 Solution Type/Methods
In this section, SFEM, CFEM and AM analyses are performed for the sandwich beam
congurations shown in Figures 3.1 and 3.2. For each, the base beam (layer 1) is 508
mm (20 inches) long, 25.4 mm (1 inch) wide and 1.5875 mm (1/16 inch) thick. The
constraining layer (layer 3) is 25.4 mm (1 inch) wide and 0.3969 mm (1/64 inch) thick.
For the rst specimen, the length of the PCLD treatment is 75% of the base beam
length and for the second specimen, the length of the PCLD treatment is 50% of the
base beam length. Cantilevered boundary conditions were simulated and both beams
were actuated by a surface bonded PZT pair. The bending modal frequencies and tip
frequency response functions were calculated.
In the SFEM analysis, we use only four elements in the method to describe the
dynamic response for the specimen 1. In the specimen 1 as illustrated in Figure 3.1,
two isotropic beam elements are used for the sections of 0 < x < x1 and x2 < x < x3
and one element is used to model the section with piezo-actuators by modied stiness
and mass. For the beam with PCLD treatment, only one element is used to capture
the dynamics. Similarly, in specimen 2, there are a total ve elements used. The
number of elements in our analysis coincides with the number of discontinuities of
the beam with PCLD because the shape functions were duplicated from exact wave
solutions.
For CFEM method, 18 elements are used in the analysis for both specimens. Three
elements are used for the section 0 < x < x3 , and for the section with PCLD treatment,
x3 < x < x4 , fteen elements are used, 1 inch long for each element. In the specimen
61
2, the exact same number of elements are used for section 0 < x < x3 . Ten elements
are used for the sandwich part and another ve elements are used for the isotropic
beam from x4 < x < x5 . For specimen 2, the element mesh for SFEM and CFEM is
shown in Figure 3.8.
For the assumed modes method, the rst twenty beam bending modes and rst
ten extension modes were used for both sandwich beams. The GHM method was used
to account for the frequency dependent complex shear modulus of viscoelastic core in
the CFEM and AM. model so that both analyses can be used to validate our SFEM
results.
Because PZTs were used to excite the sandwich beams, we have to model actuation
force introduced in the sandwich beam system. A line moment is realized at the two
edges of th PZT, as shown [10, 11, 13, 14]. The acutation moment was given as
Mc = Ec bd31 V (h + hc ) (3.54)
where Ec is th Youngs modulus of the PZT, d31 is the piezo constant, V is the applied
voltage, hc is the thickness of the piezo, and b is the width of the piezo which is same
as the base beam, and h is the thickness of the base beam. Finally, the virtual work
done by PZT is

w w
W = Mc + Mc (3.55)
x x=x2 x x=x3
The stiness and mass of eects of PZT were considered by modied mass per unit
for the element with PZT pair. They are:

length, m, and bending stiness, EI
m = mb + mc

2 2 h2 Eb bh3
EI = Ec hc b hc + hhc + + (3.56)
3 2 12
62
where mb is the mass per unit length of base beam and Eb is the Youngs modulus of
the base beam.
Therefore, a force vector can be calculated using the results of actuation moments.
In the SFEM, the frequency response functions were calculated at each excitation fre-
quency in which frequency dependent complex shear modulus is implicitly considered.
The natural frequencies can be extracted from the response functions. In the CFEM
and AM method, where both methods were augmented by the GHM method to ac-
count for frequency dependent complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core, a state
space model was used to represent the system to solve the eigenvalue problems for
natural frequency, and Bode plots were calculated for frequency responses.
3.6 Experimental Setup
The analyses have been validated experimentally using frequency response data mea-
sured from cantilevered aluminum beams with passive constrained layer damping
(PCLD), as shown in Figure 3.7. The Siglab data acquisition system was used to
generate input and collect output through a computer. The sinusoidal signal which
was amplied by a power amplier was applied to the PZT to excite the beam. A
Schaevitz DistanceStar laser sensor was used to measure the tip response under the
sine sweep signal. The material constants for the beams are listed in Table 3.1. The
viscoelastic damping material is 3M Scotchdamp ISD 112, and is 0.127 mm (5 mil)
thick for our setup. Both the storage modulus and loss factors are dependent on
frequency and temperature, based on data provided by 3M [56]. The GHM model
63
included three mini-oscillators in the expansion of the materials properties and the
constants were shown in Section 2.3.3.
3.7 Results
3.7.1 Modal Frequency Predictions
The modal frequencies predicted from all analyses of sandwich beams using the SFEM,
CFEM and AM method are presented. All analyses are performed for the sandwich
beam congurations shown in Figures 3.1 and 3.2. Table 3.2 and 3.3 show a comparison
between the predicted and measured modal frequencies for specimen 1 (75% PCLD)
and specimen 2 (50% PCLD) respectively. We can see in these tables that SFEM
provides more accurate modal frequency predictions than those in the CFEM and
AM. SFEM uses only 4 elements for specimen 1, for a total of 14 degrees of freedom,
and 5 elements for specimen 2, for a total 17 degrees of freedom. On the other hand,
the CFEM analyses used 18 elements, was augmented further with internal dissipation
coordinates to account for the frequency dependent complex modulus, for a total of
280 degrees of freedom in specimen 1, and for a total of 260 degrees of freedom for
specimen 2. In the AM method, the rst twenty beam bending mode shapes and rst
ten extension mode shapes were used to obtain comparable results. As with the CFEM,
AM analysis used the GHM method to account for the frequency dependent complex
shear modulus of the viscoelastic core. In the SFEM method, the prediction errors for
the rst through fth modal frequencies are smaller than those in the CFEM and AM
prediction. The spectral nite element method provides more accurate predictions of
64
higher modal frequency, while using only a small fraction of the number of elements
used by CFEM.
Table 3.3 shows the modal frequency comparisons for specimen 2 (50% PCLD),
where an additional structural junction is added at x4 = 0.75L. Compared to the
results of specimen 1, the prediction error is much higher for the CFEM and AM anal-
yses, whereas the SFEM predictions remain comparable to those of specimen 1. An
additional impedance change or discontinuity in the structure is more easily handled
by the SFEM method by simply introducing an additional spectral nite element to
handle the new discontinuity whereas the CFEM and AM predictions degrade sub-
stantially.
The CFEM and AM analyses can provide modal frequency predictions for a beam
with PCLD treatment; however, more elements and more modes must be included
to achieve comparable results with respect to experimental data. The SFEM is a
higher order method, so it can provide a better prediction with less computational
cost because only fewer elements were employed.
3.7.2 Number of Elements
In Figure 3.9, we investigate the typical impact of the number of elements on accuracy
of modal frequency predictions by the CFEM and SFEM analyses for specimen 1 (75%
PCLD). We plot the number of elements versus the non-dimensional modal frequencies
with respect to experimental results for the rst ve modes. Again, the CFEM analysis
uses GHM to account for the viscoelastic core. The shape functions in CFEM are the
polynomial functions intended to interpolate the displacement across each element.
65
Typically, the number of elements must be substantially increased in order to increase
the accuracy of modal frequency predictions. As shown in Figure 3.9, increasing the
number of elements in the CFEM analysis improves accuracy. In addition, as the
number of elements increases, higher modal parameters can be predicted with more
condence. For example, for the case of 6 or 8 element number, the error for higher
modal frequencies (from 2 to 5 mode) is large. When we increase the number of
elements to 33 elements, we can match experimental results. Increasing the number
of elements has a smaller impact on reducing prediction errors in the lower modes.
The typical analysis perspective is to match the rst modal frequency by adjusting
material parameters. As shown in Figure 3.9, the same number of elements were used
for SFEM analysis. A key aspect of the SFEM analysis for this structure is that
increasing the number of elements does not improve the prediction errors. In fact,
the modal frequency prediction error for N = 4 elements is identical to that for N =
33 elements. The rened shape functions, or exponential wave functions, increases
the order of the approximate interpolation of displacement in our analysis so that the
number of elements has no eect on the results. We need only include the number
of elements that correspond with the discontinuities or junctions of the beam with
PCLD. We can obtain similar results for specimen 2 (50% PCLD) as shown in Figure
3.10.
3.7.3 Frequency Response Functions
Figures 3.11 and 3.12 show the frequency response functions (FRFs) from 1 Hz to 400
Hz for the beam specimen with 75% and 50% PCLD treatments, respectively. In these
66
calculations, the SFEM analysis for specimen 1 (75% PCLD) used N = 4 elements
and specimen 2 (50% PCLD) used N = 5 elements. The CFEM used 18 elements for
both specimens. The rst twenty beam bending modes and rst ten rod modes are
included in AM method. The analytical methods capture the trend of the FRFs in
both magnitude and phase. The SFEM analysis proved to be more accurate for high
frequency even though only 4 or 5 elements were used in the analysis.
3.8 Summary
We present a spectral nite element model (SFEM) for sandwich beams excited with
a pair of piezoelectric actuators. The sandwich beam consists of top and bottom
aluminum face layers sandwiching a viscoelastic core. The viscoelastic core has a
complex modulus that varies with frequency. The actuators are mounted on the top
and bottom of the beam and are excited with equal, but out-of-phase, voltages to
excite bending motion of the sandwich beam. The SFEM is formulated in the frequency
domain using dynamic shape functions based on the exact displacement solutions from
wave propagation methods where we implicitly account for the frequency dependent
complex modulus of the viscoelastic core. A small number of spectral elements is
required to calculate the frequency response functions of the sandwich beam. Existing
analysis methods, the conventional nite element (CFEM) and assumed modes method
(AM) were compared to the SFEM. Each of the analyses was compared to experimental
measurements of modal frequency and frequency response functions for two specimen,
the rst having 75% PCLD treatment and the second having 50% PCLD treatment.
67
The SFEM method uses wave propagation functions that are exponential in nature
to construct the displacement of the nodes for an element. The wave propagation
functions used in SFEM are much higher order than the low order polynomial functions
typically used in conventional FEM interpolate displacements from node to node in
an element. The resulting dynamic stiness matrix or impedance matrix is a function
of frequency. The primary advantages of the SFEM method, described below, were
demonstrated for these sandwich beams.
1. To account for the frequency dependent complex modulus of the viscoelastic
core, internal dissipation coordinates are typically added to CFEM and AM
analyses using either the GHM or ADF methods. Applying these internal dis-
sipation coordinate methods substantially increases the required number of de-
grees of freedom in the CFEM and AM analyses. SFEM implicitly accounts
for the frequency dependent complex modulus of the viscoelastic core without
adding internal dissipation coordinates. This is because the dynamic stiness or
impedance matrix is computed at each frequency, so that the appropriate value
of complex modulus is used at each frequency.
2. Substantially fewer elements were required by the SFEM analysis (N = 4 for
the specimen with 75 % PCLD or N = 5 for the specimen with 50% PCLD).
The number of degrees of freedom for CFEM (280/260 for specimen 1 and 2, re-
spectively) analysis was substantially larger. Even though the CFEM used more
elements, the SFEM substantially out-performed the CFEM in terms of modal
frequency prediction accuracy when compared to experimental measurements of
68
the modal frequencies.
3. Increasing the number of spectral nite elements did not improve the modal
frequency prediction accuracy for these simple (section-wise uniform) sandwich
beams. The interpolation functions used are waves, and no benet is derived
from adding additional elements as long as the impedance does not change in
the structure. Physically, this implies that as long as a section of the beam
has uniform properties (as in our sandwich beams) regardless of its geometry,
one element suces to capture the structural response. In contrast, CFEM
requires many elements to interpolate the bending displacement correctly. As
a result, more conventional nite elements must be added as the beam length
increases, in contrast to SFEM, which still would require only a single spec-
tral nite element. For non-uniform structures, for example, a tapered beam
with PCLD, the advantage in number of elements would be lost because the
impedance changes continuously. The advantages and disadvantages of SFEM
with respect to CFEM for non-uniform structures deserves further study.
4. SFEM provided better results that the CFEM analyses in predictions of the fre-
quency response function (FRF) of the sandwich beams. In the FRF calculation,
we can directly account for the frequency dependent complex shear modulus in
the frequency domain. No constitutive relationship for the viscoelastic material
is required beyond measurements of the complex modulus. SFEM improved its
prediction of the FRF as frequency increased.
Because the dynamic stiness matrix is calculated at each frequency, a parallel
69
algorithm can easily be applied to obtain the results simultaneously. This will lead
SFEM to a faster execution. Although this study examined only passive constrained
layer damping treatments, the SFEM analysis can be easily extended to active con-
strained layer damping treatments.
70
Table 3.1: Beam and actuator constants
Piezoelectric density (kg/m3 ) 7500
Piezoelectric Youngs modulus (GPa) 71
Piezoelectric constant (m/v) -274e-12
Aluminum Youngs modulus (GPa) 69
Aluminum density (kg/m3 ) 2700
Viscoelastic density (kg/m3 ) 1000
Table 3.2: Comparison of predicted and measured modal frequencies of the beam
specimen 1 with a 75% PCLD treatment. N is the number of nite elements;
Nb is the number of bending modes and Ne is the number of extension modes
used in AM method.
SFEM CFEM AM
N =4 N = 18 Nb = 20, Ne = 10
Modes Expt Anal Error Anal Error Anal Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1 5.0 5.16 3.2 5.2 4.0 5.3 6.0
2 35.9 37.0 3.1 37.2 3.6 37.8 5.3
3 95.7 98.1 2.5 98.5 3.0 100.3 4.8
4 187.4 192.1 2.5 193.8 3.4 195.9 4.4
5 306.0 314.5 2.8 320.0 4.6 325.6 6.4
71
Table 3.3: Comparison of predicted and measured modal frequencies for beam
specimen 2 with a 50% PCLD treatment. N is the number of nite elements;
Nb is the number of bending modes and Ne is the number of extension modes
used in AM method.
SFEM CFEM AM
N =4 N = 18 Nb = 20, Ne = 10
Modes Expt Anal Error Anal Error Anal Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1 5.3 5.5 3.8 5.6 5.7 5.7 7.5
2 35.1 36.5 4.0 36.7 4.6 37.5 6.8
3 87.0 90.2 3.7 90.5 4.0 91.7 5.4
4 174.5 177.1 1.5 178.2 2.1 180.7 3.5
5 292.5 301.6 3.1 304.0 4.0 310.2 6.1
72
x4
x3
x2
x1
Piezoelectric Actuator (PZT-5H)
Base Beam (Aluminum)
Viscoelastic Damping Layer

Constrained Layer (Aluminum)
Figure 3.1: Specimen 1: the PCLD treatment covers 75% of the total length of
the beam
x5
x4
x3
x2
x1
Piezoelectric Actuator (PZT-5H)
Base Beam (Aluminum)
Viscoelastic Damping Layer

Constrained Layer (Aluminum)
Figure 3.2: Specimen 2: the PCLD treatment covers 50% of the total length of
the beam
73
u1
h1
w
h2
h3
u3
Figure 3.3: Cross section of beam with PCLD treatment
z, w
u1
w
x

u3
w x,u
Figure 3.4: Deection of beam with PCLD treatment
w1
w1 w 2 w2
x x
u11 u12
u31 u32
Figure 3.5: Nodal degrees of freedom in SFEM
74
w1 w2
w1' w2 '
u11 u12
u 31 u 32
Figure 3.6: Nodal degrees of freedom in CFEM
Power Amplifiers
SigLab Box
Laser sensor
_
Computer
Figure 3.7: Experimental set up for beam with PCLD treatments
75
SFEM 1 2 3 4 5
PCLD Treatment
CFEM 1 2 3 4-13 13-18

PCLD Treatment
Figure 3.8: Number of elements used in SFEM and CFEM for 50% PCLD beam
1.05
Mode 1
1.04
1.03
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.06
Mode 2
Nondimensional Modal Frequency
1.04
1.02
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.05
Mode 3
1.025
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.15
1.1 Mode 4
1.05
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.15
CFEM
1.1 Mode 5
SFEM
1.05
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Number of Elements: N
Figure 3.9: The eects of number of elements on modal frequencies for specimen
1 having 75% PCLD treatment
76
1.1
Mode 1
1.05
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.08
Mode 2
Nondimensional Modal Frequency
1.04
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.06
Mode 3
1.04
1.02
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.1
Mode 4
1.05
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
1.1
Mode 5 CFEM
1.05 SFEM
1
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Number of Elements: N
Figure 3.10: The eects of number of elements on modal frequencies for specimen
2 having 50% PCLD treatment
77
20
60
Mag. dB
Expt.
SFEM
100 CFEM
A.M
140
0 1 2
10 10 10
Frequency [Hz]
200
150
Phase [deg]
100
50
0
0 1 2
10 10 10
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 3.11: Frequency Response function from the piezoelectric voltage input
to the tip displacement output: the PCLD treatment covers 75% of the length
of the base beam.
78
20
60
Mag. dB
Expt.
SFEM
100 CFEM
A.M
140
0 1 2
10 10 10
Frequency [Hz]
200
150
Phase [deg]
100
50
0
0 1 2
10 10 10
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 3.12: Frequency Response function from the piezoelectric voltage input
to the tip displacement output: the PCLD treatment covers 50% of the length
of the base beam.
79
Chapter 4
Analyses of Sandwich Plates: Part I
This chapter discusses the bending vibration of a plate with passive constrained layer
damping treatment (PCLD). This 3-layer plate structure is comprised of two face
plates and a viscoelastic core. The face plates are assumed to be isotropic materials
and the viscoelastic core is a material with a frequency dependent complex shear
modulus. The set-up of the problem is similar as the sandwich beam case discussed
in chapter 3. We have demonstrated that a SFEM method which was developed in
the frequency domain was used to calculate the response of a sandwich beam. This
method provides the exact solutions for the vibration of sandwich beams and we expect
to extend this method to sandwich plate analysis. It is very dicult to directly solve
the problem of vibration of a sandwich plate that is rectangular. For a rectangular
isotropic plate, there are no closed-form solutions for bending vibration except for
the Levy type of plates, in which at least two parallel edges are simply-supported.
Usually the Ritz method is used to calculate the natural frequency and response for
two-dimensional plate structures. The assumed mode shapes used in the Ritz method
80
were approximated by the beam bending mode shapes for both x and y direction. We
use this classical assumed modes method for the analysis of sandwich plate using beam
and rod mode shapes, in which the GHM method was incorporated to account for the
frequency dependent complex shear modulus. The current available experimental test
data of three fully treatment of PCLD plates were used to validate the predictions of
natural frequencies and loss factor. In this analysis, we need to include many mode
shapes in our calculations, especially the in-plane mode shapes approximated by rod
vibration mode shape functions in order to match experimental data. This chapter is
an expanded version of Reference [64].
4.1 Assumptions and Governing Equations
4.1.1 Asssumptions
The conguration of 3-layered sandwich plate is illustrated in Figure 4.1. Layers 1 and
3 are the isotropic face-plates, made from aluminum, and the core is the viscoelastic
material. The face-plates are assumed to have bending, in-plane shear and extensional
stiness and their rotatory inertia has also been neglected in the model. The viscoelas-
tic core is assumed to have transverse shear stiness alone. The assumptions involved
in the derivation of the governing equations of a sandwich plate are:
a. the face plates are elastic and isotropic and suer no transverse shear deformation,
that is, the Kirchho hypothesis;
b. the core carries transverse shear, but no in-plane stresses; it is linearly viscoelastic
81
w w
xz x yz y
w w
x y
Figure 4.1: (a) Sandwich plate showing its co-ordinate axes and dimensions, and
(b) Layers forming the sandwich, and the displacements associated with each
layer.
and has a complex modulus;
c. no slip occurs in the interfaces between the face-plates and the core and all points
normal to the plate move with the same transverse displacement.
The above assumptions are similar to sandwich beam analyses in chapter 3. In this
case, we extend one-dimensional beam structures to two-dimensional plate structures.
The shear strain in the viscoelastic core (layer 2) can be expressed by:
u32 u12 w u3 u1 d w
x,2 = + = +
h2 x h2 h2 x
v32 v12 w v3 v1 d w
y,2 = + = + (4.1)
h2 y h2 h2 y
82
where d is the distance between the mid-plane of layer 1 and mid-plane of layer 3 and
is dened as:
h1 + h3
d = h2 + (4.2)
2
Applying the assumptions, we can derive the strains in face layers in terms of face
layer in-plane displacement ui (x, y) and vi (x, y), i = 1, 3 and transverse displacement
w(x, y). They are
ui 2w
x,i = z 2
x x
vi 2w
y,i = z 2
y y
ui vi 2w
xy,i = + 2z 2 (4.3)
y x x
and the stresses in face layers 1 and 3 are:
Ei
x,i = (x,i + y,i )
1 2
Ei
y,i = (y,i + x,i )
1 2
Ei
xy,i = xy,i (4.4)
2(1 + )
where Ei is the Youngs modulus for face layers, i = 1, 3 and we assume the Poisson
ratio are same for both face layers.
4.1.2 Sandwich Plate Energies and Governing Equations
Similarly, we write down the total system energy for the sandwich plate and derive the
governing equations of motion by applying the Hamiltonian principle. As discussed
in Section 3.1, the complex shear modulus was not used in the derivation because
the complex energy has no physical meaning. We replace the in-phase component by
83
the complex modulus later in the nal governing equations. The kinetic energy of
sandwich plate is:

2 2 2
1 h w ui ui dA
T = + i hi + (4.5)
2 t t t
A i=1,3
where i is the density of each layers including viscoelastic core and hi is the thickness
of the each layers The mass per unit area for a total sandwich plate is dened as:
h = 1 h1 + 2 h2 + 3 h3 (4.6)
The total potential energy of sandwich plate, including the transverse bending, in-
plane energy in the face layers 1 and 3, and the transverse shear energy alone in the
core, is:

1 ui vi ui vi
U = Nx,i + Ny,i + Nxy,i +
2 x y y x
A i=1,3 i=1,3 i=1,3
2w 2w 2w
Mx,i My,i 2 Mxy,i
x2 y 2 xy
i=1,3 i=1,3 i=1,3

+Qx,2 x,2 + Qy,2 y,2 dA (4.7)
In layer 1 and 3, the resultant in-plane stresses are
i /2
h
Ei hi ui vi
Nx,i = x,i dz = +
1 2 x y
hi /2
i /2
h
Ei hi vi ui
Ny,i = y,i dz = +
1 2 y x
hi /2
i /2
h
Ei hi ui vi
Nxy,i = xy,i dz = + i = 1, 3 (4.8)
2(1 + ) y x
hi /2
84
and bending moments are dened as:
i /2
h
Ei h3i 2w 2w
Mx,i = x,i zdz = +
12(1 2 ) x2 y 2
hi /2
i /2
h
Ei h3i 2w 2w
My,i = y,i zdz = +
12(1 2 ) y 2 x2
hi /2
i /2
h
Ei h3i 2w
Mxy,i = xy,i zdz = i = 1, 3 (4.9)
12(1 + ) xy
hi /2
and shear stresses in viscoelastic core are

2 /2
h
u3 u1 d w
Qx,2 = G xz,2dz = Gh2 +
h2 h2 x
h2 /2
2 /2
h
v3 v1 d w
Qy,2 = G yz,2 dz = Gh2 + (4.10)
h2 h2 y
h2 /2
The symbol G will be replaced by the complex shear modulus G

in the governing
equations later. The variation of the kinetic energy is expressed by:

T = h w w + i hi
ui ui vi vi
+ dA (4.11)
t t t t t t
A i=1,3
The variation of total potential energy is:

ui vi ui vi
U = Nx,i + Ny,i + Nxy,i +
x y y x
A i=1,3 i=1,3 i=1,3
2 w 2 w 2 w
Mx,i 2
My,i 2
2 Mxy,i
x y xy
i=1,3 i=1,3 i=1,3

1 w
+Qx,2 u3 u1 + d
h2 x

1 w
+ Qy,2 v3 v1 + d dA (4.12)
h2 y
The equation of motion can be obtained by applying the Hamiltonian principle:

t2
(T U )dt = 0 (4.13)
t1
85
There are ve partial dierential equations corresponding to ve independent displace-
ments. Now we introduce the complex shear modulus of viscoelastic core G

to replace
the nominal real value G. We present the equations in terms of ve displacements, in-
plane displacement in face layer 1, u1 (x, y) and v1 (x, y); in-plane displacement in face
layer 3, u3 (x, y) and v3 (x, y); and transverse displacement w(x, y) for whole sandwich
plate.
4
2w w 4w 4w d Qx,2 d Qy,2
h 2 + Dt 4
+2 2 2 + 4 = + (4.14)
t x x y y h2 x h2 y

2 u1 Eh1 2 u1 1 2 u1 1 2 v1 Qx,2
1 h1 2 2 2
+ (1 ) 2 + (1 + ) = (4.15)
t 1 x 2 y 2 xy h2

2 v1 Eh1 2 v1 1 2 v1 1 2 u1 Qy,2
1 h1 2 2 2
+ (1 ) 2 + (1 + ) = (4.16)
t 1 y 2 x 2 xy h2

2 u3 Eh3 2 u3 1 2 u3 1 2 v3 Qx,2
3 h3 + (1 ) + (1 + ) = (4.17)
t2 1 2 x2 2 y 2 2 xy h2

2 v3 Eh3 2 v3 1 2 v3 1 2 u3 Qy,2
3 h3 2 2 2
+ (1 ) 2 + (1 + ) = (4.18)
t 1 y 2 x 2 xy h2
Here the total bending exural stiness and shear force in the viscoelastic core are:
E1 h1 E3 h3
Dt = +
12(1 ) 12(1 2 )
2

d w
Qx,2 = G u3 u1 +

h2 x

d w
Qy,2 = G v3 v1 +

(4.19)
h2 y
The governing equations Eqs. 4.14 to 4.18 are associated with following possible
boundary conditions along the four edges of a rectangular sandwich plate, which were
also obtained from the Hamiltonian principle: (a) at x = 0, L.
86
ui = 0 or Nx,i = 0
vi = 0 or Nxy,i = 0
w = 0 or Qx = 0
w
x =0 or Mx = 0
and (b) at y = 0, C
vi = 0 or Ny,i = 0
ui or Nxy,i = 0
w = 0 or Qy = 0
w
y =0 or My = 0
for i = 1, 3. where
Mx = Mx,1 + Mx,3
My = My,1 + My,3
Mxy = Mxy,1 + Mxy,3
Mx Mxy d
Qx = +2 + Qx,2
x y h2
My Mxy d
Qy = +2 + Qy,2 (4.20)
y x h2
It is very dicult to directly solve the boundary values problem of PDEs. A numerical
method is applied to obtain the results of natural frequency and loss factor in order
to evaluate sandwich plate structures. The assumed modes method was employed to
discretize the system and generates the stiness and mass matrices. The GHM method
is then applied to account for the frequency dependent properties of the complex
shear modulus for the viscoelastic core. The predictions of natural frequency and loss
factor were validated by the closed-form solutions for a simply-supported rectangular
87
sandwich plate and also the experimental data of three sandwich plates clamped on
all edges.
4.2 Assumed Modes Method Using Beam and
Rod modes
In order to calculate the natural frequencies and loss factor, the classical assumed
modes method was used to analyze the sandwich plate with a viscoelastic core. The
displacements were assumed as an expansion of mode shape functions with unknown
weighted amplitudes. The ve displacements for sandwich plate were assumed as:

w(x, y, t) = Wi (t)iw (x, y)
i

u1 (x, y, t) = Ui1 (t)iu1 (x, y)
i

v1 (x, y, t) = V1i (t)iv1 (x, y)
i

u3 (x, y, t) = U3i (t)iu3 (x, y)
i

v3 (x, y, t) = V3i (t)iv3 (x, y) (4.21)
i
88
where the ith mode shape function iw , iu1 , iv1 , iu3 , and iu3 were approximated
by the beam and rod modes in both x and y direction. They are expressed as follows:
iw (x, y) = m n
w (x)w (y)
iu1 (x, y) = um1 (x)nu1 (y)
iv1 (x, y) = vm1 (x)nv1 (y)
iu3 (x, y) = um3 (x)nu3 (y)
iv3 (x, y) = vm3 (x)nv3 (y) (4.22)
For the ith assumed mode shape function, there is a corresponding mapping of mode
numbers m and n in x and y direction, respectively. Table 4.2 shows the mapping
relationship between the assumed modes number and corresponding modes in both x
and y directions.
Substituting the assumed mode shape functions for all the displacements as illus-
trated in Eq. 4.22 into the total energy expression in Eqs. 4.5 and 4.7 and applying
Lagarange Equation, we can obtain the discretized second order ordinary dierential
equations as shown below:
M x + Ke x + G
Kv x = F (4.23)
The mass matrix, M , and stiness matrices, Ke and Kv , are shown in Appendix. We
introduce the GHM method to account for the frequency dependent complex shear
modulus, G
. where details of the method were discussed in Section 2.3.3. Finally, the
state space model can be achieved based on the modied mass, damping, and stiness
as shown in Eqs. 2.32 to 2.34 based on the GHM method. The following sections
89
will demonstrate the assumed modes method for the sandwich analyses. The available
analytical solutions for a simply supported sandwich plate and the experimental data
of three four-side clamped sandwich plates were used to validate our results.
4.2.1 Analytical Validation: Simply Supported
This section compares the modal frequencies of free vibration predicted by an exist-
ing analytical solution [28] to those predicted by our analysis for a simply-supported
sandwich plate with aluminum face-plates and a viscoelastic core. The complex shear
modulus of the core is assumed constant over the frequency range, it is unnecessary to
use the GHM method to account for the frequency dependent complex modulus of the
viscoelastic core. For a simply-supported sandwich plate, the plate bending modes in
w are of the form:
mx ny
w(x, y, t) = Wi i (x, y) = Wi (t) sin sin (4.24)
L C
i i
where L and C are the dimension of plate in x and y direction as illustrated in Figure
4.1. Thus, the assumed plate bending mode used is the product of the appropriate
Euler-Bernoulli beam bending mode in each x and y direction. The assumed in-plane
modes for ui and vi in the face plates 1 and 3 are the appropriate and mode shapes
are of the form:
mx ny
u1 (x, y, t) = U1i (t)iu1 (x, y) = U1i (t) cos
sin
L C
i i
mx ny
v1 (x, y, t) = V1i (t)iv1 (x, y) = V1i (t) sin cos
L C
i i
mx ny
u3 (x, y, t) = U3i (t)iu3 (x, y) = U3i (t) cos sin
L C
i i
mx ny
v3 (x, y, t) = V3i (t)iv3 (x, y) = V3i (t) sin cos (4.25)
L C
i i
90
Here, m and n are obtained for the ith mode via the mapping in Table 4.2. (x, y)
and (x, y) are the plate bending and in-plane mode shape functions which were ap-
proximated by beam and rod modes. The boundary conditions for a simply-supported
sandwich plate are: (a) at x = 0, L.
Nx,1 , Nx,3 , v1 , v3 , w, Mx = 0 (4.26)
and (b) at y = 0, C
Ny,1 , Ny,3 , u1 , u3 , w, My = 0 (4.27)
where Nx,i , Ny,i , i = 1, 3 were dened in Eq. 4.8, and bending moments Mx and My
were dened in Eq. 4.9. When we substitute the assumed mode shape functions as
shown in Eqs. 4.24 and 4.25, all the boundary conditions were satised. This will
give us a better predictions of natural frequency and loss factor. This is the reason
that there are only closed form solutions available for a simply-supported sandwich
plate with constant complex shear modulus. For the assumed mode method, the
assumed modes need only satisfy all the geometric boundary conditions; for the simply-
supported case we can nd the exact mode shape functions. The terms W i , U1i , U3i , V1i
and V3i are the coecients of the corresponding natural mode shapes. The mass and
stiness matrices are obtained using the rst 16 transverse bending and in-plane mode
shapes. The sandwich plate was symmetric with isotropic face layers, where the length
in the x direction is L = 0.348m and the length in the y direction is C = 0.3048m.
The thickness of the each layer is that h1 = h3 = 0.762mm and h2 = 0.254mm.
The material constant are shown in Table 4.1. The predicted modal frequencies
and the corresponding modal loss factors are tabulated against the exact solution in
91
Table 4.1: Material constants for a simply-supported sandwich plate
E1 , E3 68.9GP a
1 , 3 2740kg/m3
2 999kg/m3
G2 0.869MP a
2 0.5
Table 4.3. The predicted values match the closed form analytical solution very well.
The error is less than 1.2% for both the modal frequency, and loss factors. Our results
also agree well with the numerical solutions of Cupial and Niziol [15].
4.2.2 Experimental Validation: All Four Sides Clamped
4.2.2.1 Set-up
This section presents an experimental validation of sandwich plates with aluminum
isotropic face plates and viscoelastic cores. The details of this experimental set-up was
presented by Veeramani [60] in her M.S thesis. We outline some key features. The test
area of the plates is 67.31 cm x 52.07 cm (26.5 x 20.5). The plates were clamped
atop an aluminum stand using bars of cross section, 3.81 cm (1.5) wide and 0.953 cm
(3/8) thick, around the perimeter, as shown in Figure 4.2. Each bolt was inserted
through the top clamping bar, the plate, and the test stand, and then fastened with
a nut. Each bolt was subsequently tightened to a constant torque as measured by a
torque wrench. Piezo-actuators were fastened to the plate, and used to excite bending
92
motion of the plate and the response of the plate was measured using accelerometers.
The stand was calibrated by testing uniform aluminum plates of varying thickness.
Table 4.5 shows the results of calibration. For a thickness of 0.16 cm (1/16) the error
in the rst modal natural frequency is 3.75%. Increasing the thickness to 0.24 cm
(3/32) leads to increased error in the rst modal frequency of 16.6%. It is established
that for plate thickness at or below 0.16 cm (1/16), the stand provides adequate
clamping. Three dierent sandwich plates were tested. The rst of these is a specimen,
with aluminum face-plates of thickness 0.08 cm (1/32) sandwiching a 0.00508 cm
(2 mil) thick viscoelastic layer. The remaining two specimens are asymmetric, with
face-plates of thickness 0.08 cm (1/32) and 0.04 cm (1/64). One of these plates
has a core thickness of 0.00508 cm (2 mil), and the other has a core thickness of
0.0127 cm (5 mil). The viscoelastic material used is 3M Scotchdamp ISD-112. In our
analysis, the GHM method is used to account for the complex modulus variation with
frequency and temperature. The modulus and loss factors were obtained from the
product information provided by 3M over the ranges of temperature and frequency
of interest. In this case, the three mini-oscillators terms were used to t the curve of
storage modulus and loss factors. Table 4.4 shows the parameters used in the GHM
method for a wide temperature range.
4.2.2.2 Analysis
For the all sides clamped boundary conditions, the plate transverse bending mode
shapes in the w direction are obtained from beam bending modes. Analytical mode
93
Bolts
Clamping Bar
(3.81cm x 0.953cm)
Sandwich plate
Stand
Figure 4.2: Experimental setup for plate test
shape of the Euler-Bernoulli beam in xed-xed end boundary conditions were given
by Inman [27]. The plate bending mode shapes are the combinations of beam bending
modes in x and y directions, so that

w(x, y, t) = W i (t)m (x)n (y) (4.28)
i
where
m (x) = cosh( m x) cos( m x) m (sinh( m x) sin( m x))
cosh( m l) cos( m l)
m = (4.29)
sinh( m l) sin( m l)
Here m is determined using the characteristic equation for the xed-xed end bound-
ary condition of a beam:
cos( m l) cosh( m l) = 1 (4.30)
94
where l is the length of the beam. Similarly, we can obtain n (y) by changing of length
of beam and substituting x with y in Eq. 4.29. The approximate in-plane mode shapes
assumed in face plates 1 and 3 for the case of a plate clamped on all sides are assumed
to be mode shapes, as follows:

u1 (x, y, t) = Ui1 (t)i (x, y)
i

v1 (x, y, t) = V1i (t)i (x, y)
i

u3 (x, y, t) = U3i (t)i (x, y)
i

v3 (x, y, t) = V3i (t)i (x, y) (4.31)
i
The in-plane mode shapes for all the in-plane displacements were assumed as same:
mx ny
i (x, y) = sin sin (4.32)
L C
The in-plane mode shapes as represented by the rod mode shapes are dierent from
those in simply-supported case because of the change in boundary conditions. For
the transverse direction, 25 assumed modes were used in the model and 25 assumed
modes were used in each of the in-plane directions. The eects of piezo-actuator were
considered by providing the mass contributions of the piezo in our analysis. But, the
stiness contributions were neglected.
4.2.3 Results
The results of experiments conducted on the symmetric sandwich are tabulated against
the frequencies predicted by the analysis in Table 4.6. Overall error in the 0 to 200 Hz
frequency range is below 7%. But, if the bandwidth is increased, the errors are likely
95
to be higher. More bending and in-plane modes would need to be included to predict
higher frequencies with more precision.
The experimental validation of the asymmetric sandwich plates are presented in
Table 4.7 and 4.8. Good correlation between measured and predicted modal frequen-
cies is seen. A downward shift in the modal frequencies occurs when the thickness
of the viscoelastic core increases. The trend is presented in both the experimental
measurement of frequencies and the analytical predictions. The error increases for the
higher modes. For the (4,1) mode of the symmetric sandwich plate, the error was
6.8%. For the asymmetric sandwich plates, the error in the (4,1) modal frequency was
10.5% for the 0.00508 cm (2 mil) case and 7.7% for the 0.0127 cm (5 mil) case.
The viscous damping of some modes is also measured and compared with the
predicted values for the symmetric plate in Table 4.6 and for the asymmetric plates
in Table 4.7 and 4.8. Larger error is seen for the rst modal loss factor implying the
need for a more accurate damping model at lower frequencies. This error is also due to
clamping conditions which causes additional surface friction over the clamped length.
To examine the inuence of the number of in-plane modes on the accuracy of
modal frequency estimates in bending, the number of in-plane modes, ne , is varied
while keeping the number of transverse vibration modes, nb , constant. These results
are summarized in Table 4.9. The inclusion of the in-plane modes has a large impact
on the analysis of sandwich plates. In-plane extension adds to the shearing of the
viscoelastic core and therefore aects the overall stiness of the sandwich. When
ne = 1, the error is extremely large where the rst modal frequency prediction has
112% error. By increasing ne , the error in prediction is reduced so that when ne = 6,
96
error in the rst mode is down to 5.3%. The errors are still high for the higher modes.
Once ne = 12, the frequencies of the rst 6 modes agree well with the experimental
results.
When we decrease the number of bending modes from nb = 25 to nb = 18, the
error for the rst mode increases only from 3.95% to 4.21%. Thus, the shear strain
in the viscoelastic core, is dominated by the in-plane modes and only mildly by the
bending modes. Since the assumed bending and in-plane modes are orthonormal with
themselves but not each other, accounting for the coupling between the in-plane and
bending plate modes is crucial in sandwich structure analyses via the assumed modes
method.
4.2.3.1 Inuence of Operation Temperature
Based on the correlation between the experimental and analytical prediction in this
section, we present a parametric study on the inuence of operating temperature
on the natural frequencies and the modal loss factors of the sandwich plate. The
storage modulus and loss factor of viscoelastic materials are frequency and temperature
dependent. The three plate specimens described above are subject to this study. The
results of this study are presented in Figure 4.3 through Figure 4.5 where we plot
frequency and loss factor vs. temperature for each plate. The curves have been
plotted for the rst ve plate modes.
The behavior of the curves is seen to be similar for dierent thicknesses of the
viscoelastic layer (0.00508 cm or 0.0127 cm) (2 mil or 5 mil). The variation of tem-
perature will cause the change of storage modulus and this has signicant inuence
97
on system stiness, which aects both the modal frequencies and loss factors. The
operating temperature of the plate needs to be considered when it is designed.
4.3 Summary
Analysis of sandwich plates with a dissipative core and isotropic face-plates was de-
veloped and validated. Transverse shear deformation of the face layers as well as the
rotatory inertia are neglected. Flexural and membrane energies in the face-plates are
accounted for, while the core is assumed to have shear stiness alone. A rst or-
der shear deformation theory is used to describe the deformation in the layers. The
core shear modulus is assumed to have a complex value which is dependent on the
frequency. A traditional Galerkin assumed mode analysis of plate transverse bend-
ing was augmented with internal dissipation coordinates, using the GHM method, to
account for the frequency dependent complex modulus of the viscoelastic core.
We established the validity of our assumed modes analysis by comparison with an
exact solution of a sandwich plate where the complex modulus of the viscoelastic core
was assumed to be constant over the frequency range of interest. Validation of our
analysis under simply-supported boundary conditions against this exact solution [28]
shows an error of <0.4% in the prediction of natural frequencies which analytically
validated our assumed modes analysis model.
We also examined the practical situation where a sandwich plate, clamped on
all four sides, has a viscoelastic core with a frequency dependent complex modulus.
Experiments were conducted on such symmetric and asymmetric sandwich plates using
98
a piezo pair as a modal exciter. The frequencies and modal loss factors were measured
to experimentally validate our analysis. The incorporated GHM method successfully
captures the eects of a frequency dependent complex shear modulus in the viscoelastic
core. In addition, we demonstrated that the accurate prediction of the bending modal
frequencies and damping required a large number of in-plane modes and that these
predictions were more sensitive to the number of in-plane modes than the number of
bending modes.
The temperature is also seen to have a large eect on the frequency and loss factor.
For every mode, a region of temperature exists where the modal loss factor attains
a maximum. When we tailor the damping layer by selecting the optimal thickness
and type of material to maximize damping in the structure, temperature eects must
be considered. The optimal design corresponds to a temperature range of operation
which can be predicted via our analysis.
99
Table 4.2: Mode number mapping table
No. of modes, i Modes in x, m Modes in y, n

1 1 1
2 2 1
3 1 2
4 2 2
5 3 1
6 3 2
7 1 3
8 2 3
9 3 3
10 4 1
11 4 2
12 4 3
13 1 4
14 2 4
15 3 4
16 4 4
17 5 1
18 5 2
19 5 3
20 5 4
21 1 5
22 2 5
23 3 5
24 4 5
25 5 5
100
Table 4.3: Comparison of natural frequencies and loss factors of a symmetric
sandwich with isotropic face-plates; the exact values are from the analytical
solution of Abdulhadi from Johnson and Keinholz [28] and Cupial and Niziol
[15].
Bending Plate Frequencies Loss Factor
Mode Exact Model Error Exact Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [%]
(1,1) 60.3 60.1 0.33 0.190 0.192 1.05
(2,1) 115.4 115.0 0.35 0.203 0.203 0.0
(1,2) 130.6 130.2 0.31 0.199 0.198 0.50
(2,2) 178.7 178.1 0.34 0.181 0.179 1.10
(1,3) 195.7 195.1 0.31 0.174 0.172 1.15
101
Table 4.4: Curve tting of mini-oscillator parameters used in GHM method for
the viscoelastic materials 3M ISD112 at dierent temperatures
Temperature
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
G0 5e4 2.0e5 1.0e5 9.5e4 8.4e4 6.27e4 3.4e4
1 18.48 2.61 1.557 1.54 1.26 1.09 1.29
1 1024.0 204.7 357.6 169.8 111.1 137.8 674.1
1 9961.2 9998.6 9993.3 9999.0 10010 9999.4 9980.4
2 53.8 9.04 6.39 37.8 55.9 29.3 22.4
2 145.0 336.5 59.0 1.61 3.46 1.0 3.06
2 20000 20000 20000 20000 1.15e5 20000 20000
3 164.1 27.9 32.8 5.45 4.56 3.44 3.19
3 2.95 1.0 1.03 6.65 4.33 4.96 13.4
3 5e3 5e3 5e3 5e3 5e3 5e3 5e3
102
Table 4.5: Calibration of experimental set-up: the inuence of plate thickness
on accuracy of the experiments. Aluminum plate dimensions: 67.31 cm x 52.07
cm x t (26.5 x 20.5 x t) .
Bending t= 0.16 cm (1/16) t=0.24 cm (3/32)
Mode Expt Model Error Expt Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [Hz] [%]
(1,1) 40.0 41.5 3.75 53.5 62.4 16.6
(2,1) 69.0 71.6 3.77 93.2 107.4 14.2
(1,2) 92.0 97.0 5.44 125.9 145.5 15.6
(3,1) 109.0 120.7 10.73 156.0 180.8 15.9
(2,2) 120.0 125.4 4.50 167.0 187.6 12.3
(3,2) 163.0 171.4 5.15 212.0 257.0 21.2
103
Table 4.6: Experimental validation using a symmetric clamped sandwich plate;
nb = 25, ne = 25, at 20 .
Bending Plate Frequencies Loss Factor
Mode Expt. Model Error Expt. Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [%]
(1,1) 38.0 39.5 3.95 0.092 0.122 32.6
(2,1) 68.5 67.6 1.31
(1,2) 90.3 90.3 0.00 0.158 0.166 5.06
(3,1) 109.1 112.6 3.21 0.186 0.183 1.61
(2,2) 120.0 115.6 3.67
(3,2) - 159.9 -
(1,3) 162.0 167.1 3.09
(4,1) 187.0 174.3 6.80
104
Table 4.7: Experimental validation for 67.31 cm x 52.07 cm x (0.04cm - VEM
- 0.08cm) (26.5 x 20.5 x (1/64 Al - VEM - 1/32 Al)) asymmetric clamped
sandwich plate; nb = 25, ne = 25, at 20 .
Bending 0.00508cm (2 mil) VEM
Mode Expt. Model Error Expt. Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [%]
(1,1) 29.8 30.6 2.68 0.062 0.0911 47
(2,1) 51.8 52.7 1.74
(1,2) 71.7 70.5 1.67 0.116 0.117 0.86
(3,1) 85.0 87.5 2.94 0.139 0.131 5.75
(2,2) 89.8 90.3 2.00
(3,2) 125.2 124.7 0.40
(1,3) 131.0 130.0 0.76
(4,1) 152.0 136.0 10.5
(2,3) 169.0 151.0 10.6
(4,2) 178.0 171.3 3.76
105
Table 4.8: Experimental validation for 67.31 cm x 52.07 cm x (0.04cm - VEM
- 0.08cm) (26.5 x 20.5 x (1/64 Al - VEM - 1/32 Al)) asymmetric clamped
sandwich plate; nb = 25, ne = 25, at 20 .
Bending 0.0127cm (5 mil) VEM
Mode Expt Model Error Expt. Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [%]
(1,1) 27.0 30.2 11.8 0.114 0.177 55.3
(2,1) 51.0 51.5 0.98
(1,2) 72.0 67.9 5.70 0.207 0.211 1.93
(3,1) 82.0 83.6 1.95 0.173 0.232 34.1
(2,2) 88.0 86.5 1.70
(3,2) 117.0 117.8 0.68
(1,3) 126.0 121.8 3.33
(4,1) 139.0 128.3 7.70
(2,3) - 141.1 -
(4,2) 168.0 160.7 4.35
106
Table 4.9: Eect of the number of assumed modes on the modal predictions for
the symmetric sandwich plate, at 20 .
Bending nb = 25, ne = 25 nb = 25, ne = 12 nb = 25, ne = 6
Mode Expt Anal Error Anal Error Anal Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
(1,1) 38 39.5 3.95 39.8 4.7 40.0 5.3
(2,1) 68.5 67.6 1.31 68.7 0.30 68.9 0.58
(1,2) 90.3 90.3 0.00 91.2 0.99 140.1 55
(3,1) 109.1 112.6 3.21 112.9 3.48 157.9 45
(2,2) 120.0 115.6 3.67 117.6 2.0 172.1 44
(3,2) - 159.9 - 161.0 - 306.4 -
(1,3) 162.0 167.1 3.09 285.9 76.0 306.4 122
Bending nb = 25, ne = 1 nb = 18, ne = 25 nb = 12, ne = 25
Mode Expt Anal Error Anal Error Anal Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
(1,1) 38 80.5 112 39.6 4.21 39.6 4.21
(2,1) 68.5 122.6 79 67.7 1.17 67.6 1.31
(1,2) 90.3 152.3 69 90.3 0.00 90.6 0.33
(3,1) 109.1 228.9 110 112.7 3.30 112.2 2.76
(2,2) 120.0 239.8 100 115.6 3.67 116.2 3.17
(3,2) - 355.5 - 160.0 - 160.1 -
(1,3) 162.0 355.6 120 166.2 2.60 166.3 2.60
107
140
120
Freqency:[Hz]
100
80
60
40
20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0.35
0.3
(1,1)
(2,1)
System Loss Factor
0.25 (1,2)
(3,1)
0.2 (2,2)
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Temperature: [Centidegree]
Figure 4.3: The temperature eects on the frequencies and system loss factors
for a symmetric clamped sandwich plate; ne = 25, nb = 25.
100
80
Freqency:[Hz]
60
40
20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0.25
(1,1)
0.2 (2,1)
System Loss Factor
(1,2)
(3,1)
0.15
(2,2)
0.1
0.05
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
for the rst asymmetric clamped sandwich plate; ne = 25, nb = 25.
108
120
100
Freqency:[Hz]
80
60
40
20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
0.35
0.3
(1,1)
(2,1)
System Loss Factor
0.25 (1,2)
(3,1)
0.2 (2,2)
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
for the second asymmetric clamped sandwich plate; ne = 25, nb = 25.
109
Chapter 5
Plate Mode Shapes
In the previous chapter, we derived the governing equations of motion for sandwich
plates. The assumed modes method using beam and rod mode shape functions, which
were used to approximate the two-dimensional plate mode shape functions in both x
and y direction, were employed to analyze a sandwich plate with a viscoelastic core.
Comparison of analytical and experimental results were used to validate this assumed
modes method. We found that in order to achieve the greater accuracy of frequency
prediction, more assumed modes have to be included, especially in-plane mode shapes.
In order to alleviate the computational cost and develop a higher order method for
sandwich structures, we modify the assumed mode method by using the plate mode
shape functions which were directly solved from the bending and in-plane vibration
problem of an isotropic rectangular plate. The Kantorovich [30] method was employed
to obtain these closed-form solutions of plate mode shapes. The combination of free
and clamped boundary conditions were assumed in all analyses, which are commonly
encountered in real applications.
110
Closed form solutions of rectangular plate bending vibration exist only for Levy
type of plate that is at least two parallel edges with simply-supported boundary con-
ditions [35]. The Levy type plate has exact solution and the displacement can be
determined using separation of variables which reduces the plate problem to a beam-
like one-dimensional problem. Similarly, for rectangular plate in-plane vibration, exact
solutions exist only for the case of four sides with simply-supported boundary condi-
tions [25]. For other types of boundary conditions, there is no separable solution form
as is usually assumed. The Kantorovich method was based on the variational principle
where the equilibrium position of a mechanical system is the position corresponding
to the minimum potential energy. The problem of solving boundary value problem
for PDEs is equivalent to the problem of nding the function minimizing the integral
of total potential energy. This equivalence enables us to solve PDEs by minimizing
the total energy. The most familiar method using this principle is the Rayleigh-Ritz
method. This method provides only approximate solutions of PDEs because the as-
sumed mode shapes are only admissible functions. The Galerkin method can provide
exact solutions for PDEs, but it is very dicult to nd functions that satisfy both
geometric and force boundary conditions for all cases. Fortunately, the Kantorovich
variational method provides a method of determining higher order solutions for PDEs.
This method can reduce PDEs to ODEs, so that we can solve these ODEs to determine
the mode shape functions analytically. An iteration scheme is developed to calculate
the modal frequencies and coecients of the corresponding mode shape functions.
We will not generalize the Kantorovich method but instead, will focus on obtaining
higher order plate mode shape functions and applying them to sandwich plate analyses.
111
The plate was assumed uniform, isotropic, and rectangular. In the following section
we will demonstrate the bending and in-plane vibration problems and present them
in detail.
5.1 Plate In-plane Mode Shape
This section is an expanded version of Reference [65, 67]. The Kantorovich method
was extended to the plate in-plane vibration, as illustrated in Figure 5.1. The potential
energy for in-plane vibration is

L C 2
1 Eh u 2 v u v
U = + + 2
2 1 2 x y x y
0 0

1 u v 2 2 2 2
+ (1 ) + h (u + v ) dxdy (5.1)
2 y x
We took the variation of the above total energy and performed integration by
parts, assuming that the variation of the total energy is equal to zero, U = 0. This
yields the governing equations and associated boundary conditions for in-plane plate
vibration. Here, non-dimensional results are shown:
U = 0
1 1 2
u 1 2 2u 1 v 2 2
= + (1 ) 2 + (1 + ) + u udd
2 2 2
0 0
1 1
1 2v 2
2 v 1 u2 2
+ (1 ) 2 + + (1 + ) + v vdd
2 2 2
0 0
1 1
[N u]1=0 d [N v]1=0 d
0 0
1 1
[N v]1=0 d [N u]1=0 d (5.2)
0 0
112
z
C
y
L v
u
Nyy
Nxy
Nxx Nxy
x
Figure 5.1: Schematic of rectangular plate under in-plane vibration
where non-dimensional parameters are
x y
= =
L C
L L2 (1 2 )
= 2 = 2
C E
and non-dimensional normal forces are
u v
N = +

v u
N = 2 +

1 u v
N = (1 ) +
2
We note that Eq. 5.2 is the weak or variational form of the PDEs [68], together with
all possible boundary conditions existing along four edges for in-plane plate vibration.
5.1.1 Solution
Determining plate mode shapes u and v satisfying Eq. 5.2 is equivalent to solving
the boundary value problem for in-plane plate vibration so we wish to nd functions
that exactly satisfy Eq. 5.2. This gives us the closed-form solutions of in-plane plate
113
vibration. This method is called the Kantorovich method. A numerical scheme is
used to solve a set of ODEs with associated boundary conditions to achieve a value of
zero for the variation of total energy. To do this, we assume a separable solution for
displacements u and v for a mode (mode number is neglected in all derivations)
u(, ) = Xu ()Yu ()
v(, ) = Xv ()Yv () (5.3)
If we assume that the pair, Yu and Yv , are prescribed a priori,
u = Yu Xu
v = Yv Xv (5.4)
Substituting Eqs. 5.3 and 5.4 into Eq. 5.2 and performing integration along direction,
yields
U = 0
1
d2 Xu dXv
= a1 + a2 + a3 Xu Xu d
d 2 d
0
1
d2 Xv dXu
+ b1 + b2 + b3 Xv Xv d
d 2 d
0
1 1
[N Yu Xu ]1=0 d [N Yv Xv ]1=0 d (5.5)
0 0
114
The coecients ak and bk are
1
a1 = Yu2 d
0
1
1 dYv 1
a2 = (1 + ) Yu d (1 ) [Yv Yu ]1=0
2 d 2
0
1 1
21 d2 Yu 2 2 1 2 dYu
a3 = (1 ) 2 Yu + Yu d (1 ) Yu (5.6)
2 d 2 d =0
0
1
1
b1 = (1 )Yv2 d
2
0
1
1 dYu
b2 = (1 + ) Yv d [Yu Yv ]1=0
2 d
0
1 1
d2 Yv 2 dYv
b3 = 2 Y v + 2 2
Y d Y v (5.7)
d 2 v
d =0
0
Eq. 5.5 corresponds to two coupled ODEs and associated boundary conditions in
terms of Xu and Xv . The two equations are:
d2 Xu dXv
a1 2
+ a2 + a3 Xu = 0 (5.8)
d d
d2 Xv dXu
b1 2
+ b2 + b3 Xv = 0 (5.9)
d d
The boundary conditions at = 0 and = 1 are needed. For a clamped edge:
Xu = Xv = 0 (5.10)
For a free edge:
dXu
a1 + a22 Xv = 0
d
dXv
b11 + b22 Xu = 0 (5.11)
d
115
where
1
dYv
a22 = Yu d
d
0
1
b11 = Yv2 d
0
1
dYu
b22 = Yv d
d
0
We now have two ODEs along with associated boundary conditions in terms of Xu
and Xv . Before we solve these, we list some observation.
1. From the previous expressions of coecients, we note that a2 = b2 . This is
due to the physical symmetric property of coupling terms in the PDEs.
2. Two ODEs in Eq. 5.8 are coupled only if non-zero values of a2 and b2 exist.
3. Uncoupled mode shapes exist only for clamped boundary conditions on all four
edges, because, in this case the boundary conditions expressions are uncoupled
in terms of Xu and Xv . However, when a free edge is introduced, uncoupled
mode shapes no longer exist because the boundary conditions (Eq. 5.11) are
coupled in terms of Xu and Xv .
Uncoupled and coupled mode shapes were also discussed by Farag and Pan [21]. We
will concentrate on solutions of coupled mode shapes. In-plane plate vibration should
be coupled for both mode shapes of u and v because of non-zero Poisson ratio eects
and shear deformation, which is a function of both displacements u and v. We can
116
rewrite Eq. 5.8 in terms of either Xu or Xv , as
d4 Xu d2 Xu
+ 2p + qXu = 0 or (5.12)
d 4 d 2
d4 Xv d2 Xv
+ 2p + qXv = 0
d 4 d 2
where

1 a2 b2 b3 a3
p = + +
2 a1 b1 b1 a1
a3 b3
q =
a1 b1
The solutions for Xu and Xv can be written as a wave expansion:
Xu = c1 ek1 + c2 ek1 + c3 ek2 + c4 ek2 (5.13)
Xv = d1 ek1 + d2 ek1 + d3 ek2 + d4 ek2 (5.14)
Here, c1 , c2 , c3 and c4 are four independent wave coecients, and d1 , d2 , d3 and d4
can be expressed in terms of c1 , c2 , c3 and c4 from Eq. 5.8. The constants k1 and k2
are characteristic roots of Eq. 5.12, and are given by

k12 = p + p2 q

k22 = p p2 q (5.15)
For plate in-plane vibration, there are two kinds of waves traveling across the plate.
One is a dilatational wave along the x and y directions and the other is a shear wave
which corresponds to two dierent wave numbers as in Eq. 5.15. Since there is no
damping introduced in the system, the roots k1 and k2 are not be complex numbers.
The analytical expressions of mode shapes Xu and Xv are given below based on the
possible signs of characteristic roots k12 and k22 .
117
1. if k12 > 0 and k22 > 0, then
Xu = c1 sinh(k1 ) + c2 cosh(k1 ) + c3 sinh(k2 ) + c4 cosh(k2 )
Xv = d1 sinh(k1 ) + d2 cosh(k1 ) + d3 sinh(k2 ) + d4 cosh(k2 )
2. if k12 > 0 and k22 < 0, then
Xu = c1 sinh(k1 ) + c2 cosh(k1 ) + c3 sin(|k2 |) + c4 cos(|k2 |)
Xv = d1 sinh(k1 ) + d2 cosh(k1 ) + d3 sin(|k2 |) + d4 cos(|k2 |)
3. if k12 < 0 and k22 < 0, then
Xu = c1 sin(|k1 |) + c2 cos(|k1 |) + c3 sin(|k2 |) + c4 cos(|k2 |)
Xv = d1 sin(|k1 |) + d2 cos(|k1 |) + d3 sin(|k2 |) + d4 cos(|k2 |)
4. if k12 = k22 < 0, then
Xu = c1 sin(|k1 |) + c2 cos(|k1 |) + c3 sin(|k2 |) + c4 cos(|k2 |)
Xv = d1 sin(|k1 |) + d2 cos(|k1 |) + d3 sin(|k2 |) + d4 cos(|k2 |)
The sinh and cosh components correspond to near eld (decay) waves and the sine
and cosine components correspond to far eld (propagation) waves as discussed by
Doyle [17]. This mathematical representation of mode shapes matches the properties
of wave propagation of in-plane plate vibration. For example, we consider a plate with
a clamped edge at = 0 and a free edge at = 1. The expressions of mode shape
functions Xu and Xv are assumed the same as the second case for k12 > 0 and k22 < 0.
Substituting these functions into corresponding boundary conditions as shown in Eqs.
118
5.10 and 5.11 yields

0 1 0 1 c1

e2 c
e1 0 0 2
=0 (5.16)

p1 cosh(k1 ) p1 sinh(k1 ) p2 cos(k2 ) p2 sin(k2 ) c3

q1 sinh(k1 ) q1 cosh(k1 ) q2 sin(k2 ) q2 cos(k2 ) c4
where
k12 + a3
e1 =
a2 k1
k2 + a3
e2 = 2
a2 k2
p1 = a1 k1 + a22 e1
p2 = a1 k2 a22 e2
q1 = b11 e1 k1 + b22
q2 = b11 e2 k2 + b22
Assuming non-trivial solutions of Eq. 5.16, the resulting four by four determinant
is a function in terms of only. First, we numerically determine an x resulting
in a zero determinant to obtain the modal frequency in direction. Then the wave
coecients c1 , c2 , c3 and c4 can be solved for this particular frequency, x . Finally,
we can construct the mode shape functions Xu and Xv . The next step is to assume
that Xu and Xv pair is prescribed a priori. Similarly we obtain:
u = Xu Yu
v = Xv Yv (5.17)
Substituting Eqs. 5.3 and 5.17 into Eq. 5.2 and performing integration along di-
rection and following the same procedure as we did in the directions. We show the
119
nal two ODEs and associated boundary conditions.
d2 Yu dYv
f1 2
+ f2 + f 3 Yu = 0 (5.18)
d d
d2 Yv dYu
g1 2 + g2 + g3 Yv = 0 (5.19)
d d
And the boundary conditions at = 0, 1 are needed. For a clamped edge:
Yu = Yv = 0 (5.20)
For a free edge:
dYv
g1 + g22 Yu = 0 (5.21)
d
dYu
f11 + f22 Yv = 0 (5.22)
d
where
1
1
f1 = 2 (1 )Xu2 d
2
0
1
f11 = 2 Xu2 d
0
1
1 dXv
f2 = (1 + ) Xu d [Xv Xu ]1=0
2 d
0
1
dXv
f22 = Xu d
d
0
1 1
d2 Xu 2 2 dXu
f3 = Xu + Xu d Xu (5.23)
d 2 d =0
0
120
1
g1 = 2 Xv2 d
0
1
1 dXu 1
g2 = (1 + ) Xv d (1 ) [Xu Xv ]1=0
2 d 2
0
1
dXu
g22 = Xv d
d
0
1 1
1 d2 Xv 2 2 1 dXv
g3 = (1 ) Xv + Xv d (1 ) Xv (5.24)
2 d 2 2 d =0
0
We follow the same procedure to determine the modal frequency y and the mode
shapes Yu and Yv . We cannot nd the exact solutions by applying the procedure only
once for both and s because we wish to converge such that ix iy . There-
fore, an iteration scheme is applied to achieve a convergent solution for both frequency
and mode shapes. We summarize our iteration scheme as follows.
Step 1. In the direction, prescribe the mode shape pair Yu0 and Yv0 a priori, k = 0.
Step 2a. Increment k, Yuk = Yuk1 , and Yvk = Yvk1
Step 2b. Obtain the ODEs in terms of Xuk and Xvk as shown in Eqs 5.8. Numerically
solve for kx that results in a zero determinant. The wave coecients in Xuk and Xvk
are determined under kx .
Step 2c. Using mode shape function Xuk and Xvk as calculated in Step 2b, obtain the
ODEs in terms of Yuk and Yvk as shown in Eqs. 5.18 Numerically solve for ky that
121
results in a zero determinant. The wave coecients in Yuk and Yvk can be determined.
Step 3. Check convergence between kx and ky . If ix iy , we stop the
iteration. In our calculation, we set = 105 . Otherwise, go to step 2a, k = k + 1.
5.1.2 Validation and Results
Farag and Pan [21] considered three rectangular plates, as shown in Figure 5.2, CCCC,
CCCF and CFCF cases. Plate dimensions are 1.0 m in length and 1.2 m in width and
2.5 mm thick. The Youngs modulus is E = 70 109 N/M 2 , density is 2700kg/m3 ,
and the Poissons ratio is = 0.33. In order to validate this method, we will calcu-
late natural frequencies and mode shapes for the in-plane plate vibration problems
investigated by them.
In order to start our approach, we need to discuss how to chose the initial assumed
mode shape pair in either or direction. General speaking, those mode shapes must
satisfy two conditions. First, they should be admissible functions, which satisfy the
geometric boundary conditions. Secondly, the resulting coupling coecients in Eq.
5.6 or in Eq. 5.23, that is, a2 or f2 , cannot be zero. This ensures that we solve the
coupled mode shapes as discussed in the previous section. The one-dimensional rod
vibration mode shapes are used to initialize the iteration calculation and are tabulated
for dierent boundary conditions in Table 5.1.3. These rod mode shape functions
are admissible functions in the x and y directions. Because of the orthogonality of
trigonometric functions as shown in the table, the summation of modal number for the
122
assumed pair of Yum and Yvn has to be an odd number in order to satisfy the second
criterion for the initial mode pair. The condition mod(m+n)=1 must hold to achieve
non-zero value of a2 or f2 and our numerical calculation results validate this remark.
We tabulated the rst six natural frequencies of in-plane rectangular plate vibration
where all three boundary condition cases were considered. Table 5.2 shows the natural
frequencies of a clamped rectangular plate (CCCC) case. Our results are compared
to the solutions of NASTRAN and to those of Farag and Pan [21]. Compared to
NASTRAN results, the maximum error is 1.6% in our analysis and 4.6% for Farag and
Pans. Thus, improved accuracy has been achieved in our analysis because the plate
mode shapes are more accurate. Table 5.3 shows the frequency results of the CCCF
case. The error increases for both analyses compared to NATRAN because a free edge
is introduced. The maximum error is 3.9% in our analysis and 8.4% for Farag and
Pans. Table 5.4 shows the frequency results of the CFCF case where our results are
an improvement over Farag and Pans. The maximum error in Farags results reaches
12 % compared to 4.5% in our analysis. We demonstrate mode shape functions of
the rst six modes shapes in Figure 5.3 to 5.5 for all three cases. These are plotted
in vector form where the origin of arrow denotes the location and the length of the
arrow denotes the magnitude of the resultant displacements giving us a visualization
of the mode shapes for in-plane plate motion. As shown in Figure 5.3 for the CCCC
case, we can observe some node lines in which displacement is dominant only in one
direction. The displacements are symmetric with respect to those lines for the rst,
second, fth and sixth mode. For the third and fourth modes, the shear (rotation)
mode shape is easily identied. The third mode corresponds to rotation with respect
123
to the center of a plate. For the fourth mode, the displacements behave similarly to
the case in which the extension and compression occurs along two diagonals of a plate.
For the CCCF case, as shown in Figure 5.4, the mode shape displacements show the
dierent results compared to the CCCC case. Due to an introduction of a free edge,
the displacements are small close to clamped edges and become larger when reaching
the free edge. The mode shapes only show symmetries along the y direction. For
the CFCF case, as shown in Figure 5.5 similar results are obtained compared to the
CCCC case. We can identify the node lines easily and the axes of symmetry.
5.1.3 Summary
Based on the Kantorovich method, we computed the natural frequencies and natural
modes of rectangular plates. The analytical results were validated using both NAS-
TRAN and results from literature [21]. Improved accuracy for the natural frequency
calculations for three cases was achieved when compared to available results from lit-
erature relative to the NASTRAN analysis. Mode shapes were expressed as a linear
combination of wave propagation where the wave coecients were computed using a
numerical iteration scheme. The mode shapes were given in analytical form in which
the wave coecients were determined through a numerical iteration scheme.
1. As shown in Table 5.2 for CCCC case, the maximum error of our analysis was
1.6% and 4.6% for Farag and Pans analysis. Both analyses predict natural
frequency well.
2. As shown in Table 5.3 for CCCF case, the maximum error of our analysis was
124
Table 5.1: Admissible rod mode shape functions
Boundary Conditions Mode Shape Function
clamped-clamped Wm = sin( mx
l
)
clamped-free Wm = sin( (2m1)x

2l
)
free-free Wm = cos( mx
l
)
3.9% and 8.4% for Farag and Pans analysis. The errors in the CCCF case
increase for both analyses. The introduction of a free edge increases the dis-
placement coupling because a force boundary condition exists.
3. As shown in Table 5.4 for CFCF case, the maximum error continues to increase,
4.5% in our analysis and 12% in Farag and Pans. As more free edges are added,
the coupling eects between mode shapes increase.
Overall more accurate approximation of frequency calculations were achieved in our
analysis relative to the NASTRAN analysis. The plots of mode shapes provide us a
visualization of displacement eld for in-plane plate vibration.
125
Table 5.2: Natural frequencies of in-plane vibration of a rectangular plate with
CCCC boundary conditions
Mode Mode NASTRAN Present Farag and Pan
Mode No. for u for v Freq. Freq. Error Freq. Error
mn mn [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1 22 11 2658 2667 0.3 2671 0.5
2 11 22 2898 2909 0.4 2914 0.6
3 12 21 3260 3280 0.6 3349 2.7
4 12 21 4024 4089 1.6 4198 4.3
5 13 22 4268 4327 1.4 4404 3.2
6 23 12 4404 4437 0.7 4607 4.6
126
CCCF boundary conditions
mn mn [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1 22 11 1803 1811 0.4 1892 4.9
2 11 22 2656 2674 0.7 2727 2.7
3 12 21 2794 2845 1.8 3026 8.4
4 12 21 3392 3524 3.9 3596 6.0
5 23 12 3479 3504 0.7 3624 4.2
6 13 22 3704 3757 1.4 3868 4.4
127
CFCF boundary conditions; Modal number 0 denotes the rigid mode.
mn mn [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1 23 10 1449 1455 0.4 1531 7.0
2 22 11 2511 2520 0.4 2682 6.0
3 10 21 2567 2639 2.8 2697 5.0
4 11 20 2637 2662 0.95 2994 12.0
5 11 20 3037 3187 4.5 3122 3.0
6 12 21 3061 3146 2.8 3390 10.0
128
y
clamped
clamped
clamped
CCCC
x
clamped
y
free
clamped
clamped
CCCF
x
clamped
y free
clamped
clamped
CFCF
free
Figure 5.2: Three congurations of rectangular plate under in-plane vibration
129
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
a) = 2667Hz b) = 2909Hz
u(2 2); v(1 1) u(1 1); v(2 2)
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
c) = 3280Hz d) = 4089Hz
u(1 2); v(2 1) u(1 2); v(2 1)
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
e) = 4327Hz f) = 4437Hz
u(1 3); v(2 2) u(2 3); v(1 2)
Figure 5.3: Mode shapes of in-plane vibration of a rectangular plate with CCCC
boundary conditions
130
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
a) = 1811Hz b) = 2674Hz
u(2 2); v(1 1) u(1 1); v(2 2)
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
c) = 2845Hz d) = 3524Hz
u(1 2); v(2 1) u(1 2); v(2 1)
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
e) = 3504Hz f) = 3757Hz
u(2 3); v(1 2) u(1 3); v(2 2)
Figure 5.4: Mode shapes of in-plane vibration of a rectangular plate with CCCF
boundary conditions
131
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
a) = 1455Hz b) = 2520Hz
u(2 3); v(1 0) u(2 2); v(1 1)
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
c) = 2639Hz d) = 2662Hz
u(1 0); v(2 1) u(1 1); v(2 0)
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
y,v
y,v
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x,u x,u
e) = 3187Hz f) = 3146Hz
u(1 1); v(2 0) u(1 2); v(2 1)
Figure 5.5: Mode shapes of in-plane vibration of a rectangular plate with CFCF
boundary conditions
132
z
C
y
L w
Mxy
Qyz
Myy
Mxx Qxz Mxy
x
Figure 5.6: Schematic of rectangular plate bending vibration
5.2 Plate Bending Vibration
In this section, we will discuss the mode shapes of isotropic plate bending vibration.
Typically beam bending mode shapes are used in both x and y directions to ap-
proximate the mode shapes of plate bending through the Rayleigh-Ritz method [35]
[9]. These approximation provided upper bounds of natural frequency calculations in
which many numbers of mode shapes were included. Bhat et. al. [8] solved bend-
ing mode shapes of rectangular plate having simply-supported and clamped boundary
conditions. We will use the same method to solve the mode shapes of rectangular
plate with clamped and free boundary conditions. Details of this method were given
in the paper of Bhat et. al. [8]. A thin plate with Kirchho hypothesis is considered
and the corresponding non-dimensional variational expression of total energy of the
133
plate, as shown in Figure 5.6, is:
1 1
4W 4
2 W
4
4 W 2
U = + 2 + + W W dd
4 2 2 4
0 0
1 1 1
W 1 W 1
+ M ( ) d + M ( ) d [V W ]10 d
0 0
0 0 0
1 1 1
2W
[V W ]10 d 2(1 )2 W =0 (5.25)
0 0
0
Here we dene some non-dimensional parameters. The non-dimensional length in x
and y directions are:

x y
= =
L C
The aspect ratio of plate and non-dimensional frequency are:

L mVL4
= 2 = 2
C EI
where m is mass per unit area of a plate and EI is the plate bending exural stiness.
The non-dimensional resultant shear forces and moments are:
3w 2 3w
V = + (2 )
3 2
3
w 3w
V = 4 3 + 2 (2 ) 2

2
w 2
w
M = 2
+ 2 2

2w 2w
M = 4 2 + 2 2

The separable solution of bending mode shape function, Wmn , is assumed as:
Wmn (, ) = Xm ()Yn () (5.28)
If we assume Yn a priori
Wmn (, ) = Yn ()Xm () (5.29)
134
Substitute above two equations into Eq. 5.25 and integrate along direction, this
yields:
d4 Xm d2 Xm
+ 2x + x Xm = 0 (5.30)
d 4 d 2
where x is a constant and x is a function of unknown parameter . The expression
of these two parameters are:

1
0 2 Yn Yn d + 2 ( 1) [Yn Yn ]10
x = 1
2
0 Yn d
1 !
0 4 Yn Yn d + 4 [Yn Y )n ]10 [Yn Yn ]10
x = 1 2
Y 2 d
0 n
where
d
() = ()
d
The solution of the above Eq. 5.30 is:
Xm = c1 sin(px ) + c2 cos(px ) + c3 sinh(qx ) + c4 cosh(qx ) (5.32)
where
" "
" "
px = "" x x 4x ""
2
" "
" "
qx "
= " x + x 4x ""
2
px and qx are wave numbers, which are functions of . The coecients of c1 , c2 , c3 , c4
were determined using boundary condition at two edges = 0, and = 1. The possible
boundary condition on these two edges are; (a) clamped edge
dXm
Xm = 0, =0
d
(b) simply-supported edge

d2 Xm
Xm = 0, =0
d 2
135
(c) free edge
d2 Xm
+ e1 Xm = 0
d 2
d3 Xm dXm
3
+ e2 = 0
d d
where
1
2 0 Yn Yn d
e1 = 1
2
0 Yn d
1
Y Yn d [Y Yn ]1
e2 = 2 (2 ) 0 1 n 22 (1 ) 1n 0
2 2
0 Yn d 0 Yn d
The next step is to determine wave coecients, c1 , c2 , c3 , c4 . For example, the case in
which a plate is clamped at = 0 and free at = 1, then

0 1 0 1 c1

c
px 0 qx 0 2
=0 (5.35)

f1 sin(px ) f1 cos(px ) f2 sinh(qx ) f2 cosh(qx ) c3

f3 cos(px ) f4 cos(px ) f5 cosh(qx ) f5 sinh(qx ) c4
where
f1 = p2x + e1
f2 = qx2 + e1
f3 = p3x + e2 px
f4 = p3x e2 px
f5 = qx3 + e2 qx
The non-trivial solutions of those coecients will lead to a frequency equation in terms
of only. Eq. 5.35 is solved to obtain an xm and the coecients in mode shape
136
function Xm are determined. Alternatively, we can obtained functions Xm as a priori,
then
Wmn (, ) = Xm ()Yn () (5.36)
We substitute the above equation into Eq. 5.25 and integrate along direction which
yields an ODEs in terms of Yn .
d4 Yn d2 Yn
+ 2y + y Yn = 0 (5.37)
d 4 d 2
where y is constant and y is a function of unknown parameter . The expression of
these two parameters are:

1 X d + 2 ( 1) [X X ]1
0 2 Xm m m m 0
y = 1
4 2
0 Xm d
1 !
X d + [X X ]1 [X X ]1
Xm
0 m m m 0 m m 0 2
y = 1 4
4 0 Xm 2 d
where
d
() = ()
d
The solution of the above equations is:
Yn = d1 sin(py ) + d2 cos(py ) + d3 sinh(qy ) + d4 cosh(qy ) (5.39)
Similarly, the wave numbers were given by:

" "
" "
" "
py = " y y2 4y "
" "
" "
" "
" "
qy = " y + y2 4y "
" "
The possible boundary conditions along two edges = 1, 1 are; (a). clamped edge
dYn
Yn = 0, =0
d
137
(b). simply-supported edge
d2 Yn
Yn = 0, =0
d 2
(c). free edge
d2 Yn
+ g1 Yn = 0
d 2
d3 Yn dYn
+ g2 = 0
d 3 d
where
1
0 Xm Xm d
g1 = 1
2 0 Xm 2 d
1 X ]1
X Xm d [Xm
(2 ) 0 1 m
m 0
g2 = 2(1 ) 1
2 2 2 d
0 Yn d 0 Xm
By applying boundary conditions at two edges = 0, 1, we can solve a frequency
equation to obtain an yn and determine the coecients in mode shape function Yn .
We will repeat the whole procedure until convergence is achieved for frequency in
both x and y directions, ie., xm yn ( = 1.0e5 in our calculation). Then
the mode frequency mn and mode shapes Wmn are determined. Validation of this
method for plate bending vibration is presented in Chapter 6.
138
y Plate specimen
With CFCF BC.
10 in.
12 in.
Figure 5.7: A uniform rectangular plate with CFCF boundary conditions
5.3 Results for Plate Bending and In-plane Mode
Shape Functions
In this section, we will calculate the plate mode shape functions for bending and
in-plane vibration for a uniform rectangular plate. The boundary conditions were
clamped on two parallel edges along x direction and free on the two edges along y
direction, which is denoted by CFCF is shown in Figure 5.7. The aspect ratio of
length in x and y direction is 1.2. And the Poisson ratio was assumed = 0.3. Table
5.5 and 5.6 showed the plate bending mode shape functions. Plate in-plane mode
shape functions were presented in Table 5.7 to 5.10 for both displacements u and v.
These mode shapes will be used in next chapter for the analyses of sandwich plates.
139
Table 5.5: The parameters in mode shape functions of a rectangular plate bend-
ing vibration under CFCF boundary condition I: where Wmn (x, y) = Xwm Ywn

Xwm = sin p1 xl + c1 cos p1 xl + c2 sinh p2 xl + c3 cosh p2 xl
mn c1 c2 c3 p1 p2
11 -1.0178 -1 1.0178 4.73 4.73
12 -0.66715 -0.66513 0.66715 4.3183 6.4924
13 -0.34212 -0.34211 0.34212 3.8009 11.11
21 -0.99922 -1 0.99922 7.8532 7.8532
22 -0.85305 -0.85325 0.85305 7.6957 9.0192
23 -0.58028 -0.58028 0.58028 7.3348 12.64
14 -0.21739 -0.21739 0.21739 3.5697 16.421
31 -1 -1 1 10.996 10.996
32 -0.92388 -0.92387 0.92388 10.916 11.816
24 -0.40644 -0.40644 0.40644 7.0553 17.359
33 -0.72389 -0.72389 0.72389 10.678 14.751
15 -0.15898 -0.15898 0.15898 3.4569 21.744
41 -1 -1 1 14.137 14.137
42 -0.95631 -0.95631 0.95631 14.093 14.736
34 -0.55348 -0.55348 0.55348 10.436 18.855
25 -0.30647 -0.30647 0.30647 6.8779 22.443
140
Table 5.6: The parameters in mode shape functions of a rectangular plate bend-
ing vibration under CFCF boundary condition II: where Wmn (x, y) = Xwm Ywn

Ywm = d1 sin q1 yc + d2 cos q1 yc + d3 sinh q2 yc + d4 cosh q2 yc
mn d1 d2 d3 d4 q1 q2
11 0 5.6667 -0.97247 1 5.9605e-8 4.1336
12 1 -2.8336 1.2201 -1.1996 2.4631 4.7684
13 1 -1.5252 1.0957 -1.099 5.1225 6.4878
21 0 5.6667 -0.9995 1 5.9006e-7 7.9974
22 1 -4.2674 1.1673 -1.1668 2.6812 8.4014
23 1 -2.507 1.2002 -1.2004 5.5241 9.6129
14 1 -1.2092 1.043 -1.0427 8.0428 8.9421
31 0 5.6667 -0.99999 1 5.4355e-6 11.72
32 1 -4.4398 0.99852 -0.99851 2.6985 12.016
24 1 -1.7252 1.1244 -1.1244 8.3741 11.427
33 1 -3.4344 1.2296 -1.2296 5.7165 12.985
15 1 -1.1083 1.0231 -1.0231 11.098 11.751
41 0 5.6667 -1 1 2.5194e-5 15.437
42 1 -4.0701 0.83143 -0.83143 2.6597 15.66
34 1 -2.3739 1.1907 -1.1907 8.6274 14.446
25 1 -1.4036 1.0773 -1.0773 11.328 13.701
141
Table 5.7: The parameters in mode shape functions of a rectangular plate in-
plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition I: where Umn (x, y) = Xum Yun
Xum

I Xum = c1 sinh p xl + c2 cosh p xl + c3 sin q xl + c4 cos q xl

II Xum = c1 sin p xl + c2 cos p xl + c3 sin q xl + c4 cos q xl
m Index c1 c2 c3 c4 p q
2 I 1.0169 -1 0.20688 1 4.7806 3.5496
1 I 0.93906 -1 -14.588 1 3.4601 3.2785
1 II 1 0.75982 0.11476 -0.75982 1.8421 5.9834
2 I 2.7646 -1 4.9485 1 0.75771 5.8844
1 II 1 -0.0656 0.010374 0.0656 3.2726 6.5969
1 II 1 2.4638 0.28628 -2.4638 0.77111 6.0518
4 I 1.0111 -1 0.10615 1 5.1964 9.6363
1 II 1 -0.81836 0.44581 0.81836 4.5133 7.2808
2 II 1 -0.6023 0.11295 0.6023 1.0842 9.7955
1 II 1 -0.072948 0.15154 0.072948 3.2872 8.5275
2 I 1.0095 -1 -3.655 1 5.3535 6.8173
2 I 1.001 -1 -34.625 1 7.6214 6.3409
2 II 1 0.20008 0.13964 -0.20008 5.8882 8.2061
1 I 0.73171 -1 -0.5222 1 1.8648 5.3207
5 I 0.99939 -1 0.11391 1 8.0949 12.793
1 II 1 0.59293 0.033994 -0.59293 2.0712 12.452
142
plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition II: where Umn (x, y) = Xum Yun
Yun

I Yun = c1 sinh p yc + c2 cosh p yc + c3 sin q yc + c4 cos q yc

II Yun = c1 sin p yc + c2 cos p yc + c3 sin q yc + c4 cos q yc

III Yun = c1 sinh p yc + c2 cosh p yc + c3 sinh q yc + c4 cosh q yc

IV Yun = c1 sin p yc + c2 cos p yc + c3 yc sin q yc + c4 yc cos q yc
n Index c1 c2 c3 c4 p q
4 III 1 -0.99955 -0.15398 0.054059 8.4081 0.73334
1 IV 1 0.84322 -0.18094 0.53701 1.1732 1.1732
2 II 1 -0.64692 0.70195 -0.87644 1.1484 1.791
3 I 1 -1.0035 0.95143 0.072566 6.3638 2.9893
2 II 1 -0.63965 -1.8536 -2.645 1.1381 4.3641
3 II 1 1.0508 -1.5325 2.5614 1.5212 5.2048
4 III 1 -0.99599 -0.58362 0.52265 6.209 2.8984
1 I 1 -1.6341 -1.3 -0.0024262 1.4241 3.1379
3 I 1 -1.0151 0.54466 0.40004 4.8914 1.8746
3 II 1 -0.21141 -1.266 -3.6229 3.5583 6.9556
2 I 1 -0.65239 -1.2709 -0.17256 1.5589 6.0133
1 I 1 -8.8511 -0.14415 -3.4811 0.22693 6.366
1 II 1 1.8414 -0.79962 1.0853 0.99499 5.0132
4 II 1 1.372 -1.2732 8.8358 4.4012 9.1386
4 I 1 -0.99977 -0.51028 0.48291 9.0571 3.5916
4 I 1 -0.60493 2.4078 -2.9613 1.4018 8.0594
143
plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition III: where Vmn (x, y) = Xvm Yvn
Xvm

I Xvm = c1 sinh p xl + c2 cosh p xl + c3 sin q xl + c4 cos q xl

II Xvm = c1 sin p xl + c2 cos p xl + c3 sin q xl + c4 cos q xl
m Index c1 c2 c3 c4 p q
1 I -0.92197 0.93757 4.532 -0.93757 4.7806 3.5496
2 I -8.5959 8.072 -0.55334 -8.072 3.4601 3.2785
2 II -0.20923 0.27537 -1.8232 -0.27537 1.8421 5.9834
1 I 8.6376 -23.88 -4.8256 23.88 0.75771 5.8844
2 II 0.0053838 0.082069 0.51895 -0.082069 3.2726 6.5969
2 II -1.6694 0.67758 -5.8316 -0.67758 0.77111 6.0518
3 I -0.058056 0.058702 0.55301 -0.058702 5.1964 9.6363
2 II -1.1906 -1.4548 -2.6706 1.4548 4.5133 7.2808
3 II 0.19865 0.32982 1.7587 -0.32982 1.0842 9.7955
2 II 0.032953 0.45173 0.21745 -0.45173 3.2872 8.5275
3 I -1.7969 1.814 -0.4963 -1.814 5.3535 6.8173
3 I -17.039 17.056 -0.49258 -17.056 7.6214 6.3409
3 II 0.19377 -0.96847 1.3876 0.96847 5.8882 8.2061
2 I 0.81315 -0.59498 1.1394 0.59498 1.8648 5.3207
4 I -0.014857 0.014847 0.13034 -0.014847 8.0949 12.793
4 II -0.099851 0.1684 -2.9373 -0.1684 2.0712 12.452
144
plane vibration under CFCF boundary condition IV: where Vmn (x, y) = Xvm Yvn
Yvn

I Yvn = c1 sinh p yc + c2 cosh p yc + c3 sin q yc + c4 cos q yc

II Yvn = c1 sin p yc + c2 cos p yc + c3 sin q yc + c4 cos q yc

III Yvn = c1 sinh p yc + c2 cosh p yc + c3 sinh q yc + c4 cosh q yc

IV Yvn = c1 sin p yc + c2 cos p yc + c3 yc sin q yc + c4 yc cos q yc
n Index c1 c2 c3 c4 p q
1 III -0.022032 0.022041 0.14308 -0.40755 8.4081 0.73334
2 IV -2.1465 2.1107 -0.946 -0.31875 1.1732 1.1732
1 II -0.3648 -0.56391 -0.5197 -0.41623 1.1484 1.791
2 I 0.027487 -0.027392 -0.02889 0.37878 6.3638 2.9893
1 II -2.7986 -4.3752 1.5098 -1.0581 1.1381 4.3641
2 II -1.3734 1.3069 0.89616 0.53619 1.5212 5.2048
1 III -1.3063 1.3116 2.2384 -2.4995 6.209 2.8984
2 I 0.0052686 -0.0032241 0.0040526 -2.1714 1.4241 3.1379
2 I -0.26189 0.25799 0.48083 -0.65466 4.8914 1.8746
2 II -1.0299 -4.8719 0.81352 -0.28429 3.5583 6.9556
3 I 0.44711 -0.68534 0.35179 -2.591 1.5589 6.0133
4 I 0.96586 -0.10912 6.7003 -0.27746 0.22693 6.366
2 II 0.6751 -0.36662 -0.84427 -0.62202 0.99499 5.0132
3 II -5.0822 3.7042 3.9917 0.57518 4.4012 9.1386
1 I -5.2303 5.2316 10.25 -10.831 9.0571 3.5916
1 I 1.2664 -2.0935 -0.52598 -0.42767 1.4018 8.0594
145
Chapter 6
Analyses of Sandwich Plate: Part II
In the previous chapter, we used the Kantorovich method to solve the plate bending
and in-plane vibration problem for rectangular plates, where the mode shape functions
were solved in the closed form. For the plate in-plane vibration, the NASTRAN
results and results from literature was used to validate our analysis. Our results
were comparable to the NASTRAN results for the frequency predictions. Our goal
here is to apply those higher order plate mode shapes functions in the analysis of
sandwich plates with a viscoelastic core. We have conducted experiments to test an
aluminum plate with and without partial PCLD treatment. For the aluminum plate,
we can validate the results of plate bending mode shape functions solved using the
Kantorovich method. For the plate with partial PCLD treatment, we try to improve
our sandwich plate analysis using plate modes in order to include fewer number of
modes. A thorough validation will be done for the predictions of natural frequency,
loss factor, mode shapes, and frequency response functions using testing data. The
conguration of our two plates was clamped on the two edges in x direction, and free
146
on two edges in y direction, denoted by CFCF.
6.1 Experimental Set-up
Figure 6.1 shows the experimental set-up. A shaker was used as the excitation source,
which hung about 15 inches away above the plate. The reason for this is to minimize
the inuence of the shaker. If we x the shaker, there is additional stiness contribution
from the shaker, which will change the properties of the whole system, and this eect
is dicult to include in our analysis. Measured natural frequencies of lower modes
using an impact hammer were similar to the results under the shaker excitation for
an aluminum plate. Therefore, we do not need to include the eects of shaker in our
analysis.
The force output from shaker was transmitted through a load cell and a rigid rod
to the plate, as shown in Figure 6.1. The rigid rod was bonded to the surface of plate
using M-bond and provided a good adhesion between the rod and plate. The size of
the rod is about 1.5 inch long and 5/16 inch diameter. The load cell provided the
magnitude of force input to the plate. When we assemble the whole system, we have
to make sure the rigid rod is perpendicular to the surface of the plate in order to
introduce a vertical point force only. We normally let the rod just touch the surface
of the plate by adjusting the length of elastic strings and the glue will ll the gap
between the tip of the rod and plate providing a point transverse force input to the
plate.
As shown in Figure 6.1, our base is an optical table with a vibration isolation
147
system. This isolation workstation is made by Newport Corporation. The optical
table is RS-3000 with honey cone and integrated tuned damping. The top surface
is 400 series ferromagnetic stainless steel with 1 inch by 1 inch screw pattern, the
diameter is 5/16 inch. An air compressor is served as the air source to the isolation
legs of the workstation system. The isolation system oats the table and very low
frequency disturbances from oor were totally isolated. The details of this was given
by Ryaboy al el [55].
A plate was clamped by xtures on two parallel edges and free on the other two
edges, as shown in Figure 6.1. The xtures were designed to provide clamped boundary
conditions and were made of top and bottom parts. The size of top and bottom parts
were the same, 15 in. long, 3 in. wide, and 1 inch thick. The two bottom pieces were
bolted to the optical table with a distance 12 in. apart. A 13 by 10 in. aluminum
plate specimen with a thickness of 0.05975 in, was placed on atop of the two bottom
pieces. The clamping width was a half inch at each clamped edge. Two strips with
same thickness as the plate were placed on the each of the back edges of bottom pieces.
Then the top pieces of the xture were bolted to the bottom pieces. A torque of 200
in-lbs was applied to each of the bolts to provide uniform clamping. Figure 6.2 displays
the details of the clamping xture.
Two specimens with CFCF boundary conditions were tested. One was an alu-
minum plate and the other was an aluminum plate with partial PCLD treatment.
The size of aluminum plate was 12 in. long, 10 in. wide, and 0.05975 in. thick. The
plate with PCLD was 12 in. long, 10 in wide, and the base plate thickness was 0.05975
in. The constraining plate layer was 4 in. long, 10 in. wide, and 0.015 in. thick. The
148
viscoelastic core is 3M ISD112 with 2 mil thickness. The PCLD treatment was located
on the center of base plate, which was from x1 = 4 in. to x2 = 8 in., as shown in Figure
6.3. The aluminum material was 6061T6 with the Youngs Modulus E = 68GP a and
Poisson ratio = 0.3. As shown in Figure 6.1, a non-contact Schaevitz DistanceStar
laser sensor was used to measure the displacement of the plate. We obtained a fre-
quency response function at fteen positions on the plate. The coordinates of these
measurements were listed in Table 6.1 and 6.1 for the aluminum plate and the plate
with PCLD, respectively.
We chose the excitation location carefully to avoid exciation at the nodal position
in the plates. We draw the lines which equally divided the length in both x and y
directions. Then, we can nd the location which can excite up to fourth mode in each
direction. This simple scheme was validated by our experiment. In order to reach
up to mode (1,4), the excitation location was located at (x, y) = 10 58 , 2 78 in. for the
aluminum plate and (x, y) = 10 58 , 2 in. for the aluminum plate with PCLD.
A sine sweep signal was applied to the shaker with the load cell feedback to main-
tain the constant force magnitude for the whole frequency spectra. A similar setup,
as shown in Figure 3.7, was used for plate test except the load cell feedback control
scheme. We set up the control voltage in input of the load cell and the output voltage
to shaker were adjusted based on the feedback control algorithm integrated in the
Siglab signal acquisition system.
149
Laser Sensor
Shaker
Load cell
Specimen
Optical
Table
Figure 6.1: Schematic of plate testing set-up
Plate
Top Piece Specimen
Shim
1 in.
Bottom Piece
0.5 in. 0.5 in.

3 in.
Figure 6.2: Diagram of clamping xture
150
y
12 in.
10 in.
X1=4 in.
X2=8 in.
Plate with PCLD Treatment
Figure 6.3: A plate with PCLD treatment under CFCF boundary conditions
1 6 11
2 7 12
3 8 13
4 9 14
5 10 15
Figure 6.4: Schematic of sensor array for plate testing
151
Table 6.1: Coordinates of the 15 measured locations for an aluminum plate under
CFCF boundary conditions; x and y are in inches
1 2 3 4 5
x 3 3 2 31
32
2 15
16
2 15
16
y 9 78 7.5 5 2 17
32
1
8
6 7 8 9 10
x 6 6 6 6 6
y 9 78 7 15
32
5 7
2 16 1
8
11 12 13 14 15
x 7.5 7.5 7 17
32
7.5 7.5
y 9 78 7 17
32
5 2.5 1
8
Table 6.2: Coordinates of the 15 measured locations for a plate with PCLD
treatment under CFCF boundary conditions; x and y are in inches
1 2 3 4 5
x 3 3 3 2 31
32
2 15
16
y 9 15
16
7.5 5 2.5 1
16
6 7 8 9 10
x 6 6 6 5 15
16
5 78
y 9 78 7 15
32
5 2.5 3
32
11 12 13 14 15
9
x 7 16 7 17
32
7 17
32
7.5 7.5
y 9 29
32
7.5 5 2.5 1
32
152
6.2 Results
In this section we will show the results of frequency, mode shape functions and fre-
quency response function for both the aluminum plate and the aluminum plate with
PCLD treatment. As shown in the Section 5.3, the rst 16 plate bending and in-plane
mode shapes were solved under the CFCF boundary conditions and were presented
in Table 5.5 to Table 5.10. These plate modes will be used in our analysis. The di-
mensions of the two specimen were discussed in Section 6.1. The material constant
for Youngs Modulus was 68GP a and the Poisson ratio was assumed as = 0.3. The
viscoelastic core was working under room temperature, at 20o C.
6.2.1 Aluminum Plate
Based on the experimental frequency response functions at 15 locations on the plate
specimen, we can extract the rst seven modal frequencies, modal damping, and mode
shape functions using the Star software[72]. These results were used to validate our
analysis of an aluminum plate. In our analysis, the assumed modes method was
employed to solve the aluminum plate vibration problem using either beam bending
mode shapes or the plate mode shapes as shown in Table 5.5 and 5.6. The transverse
displacement w(x, y) was assumed as an expansion of beam mode shape function in
both x and y direction.

w(x, y) = Wi (t)m n
w (x)w (y) (6.1)
i
The mode shape functions, m n

w and w were the beam bending mode shape functions
which were adapted based on the boundary conditions of the aluminum plate. The
153
CFCF boundary conditions were considered. In x direction, the mode shapes were the
beam bending modes with clamped-clamped boundary conditions, shown in Eq. 4.29.
Along the y direction, the beam modes with free-free boundary conditions were used:
n (y) = cosh( n y) + cos( n y) n (sinh( n y) + sin( n y))
cosh( n c) cos( n c)
n = (6.2)
sinh( n c) sin( n c)
Here n is determined using the characteristic equation for the free-free end boundary
condition of a beam, which is:
cos( n c) cosh( n c) = 1 (6.3)
The rst 25 modes were included and m and n were mapped in Table 4.2.
Based on the Kantorovich method, we have already solved the plate mode shape
functions as shown in Table 5.5 and 5.6. There were only rst seven modes needed in
our calculation and these total mode shape numbers coincide with the mode numbers
in experimental results. The frequency predictions using beam and plate modes were
listed in Table 6.3 and were compared to experimental results. For the rst mode,
the errors were largest in both analyses, about 5%, and this is due to the boundary
condition eects. From the second to seven modes, the frequency prediction errors
decrease in both analyses and the error in the analysis using plate mode shapes were
less than those in the analysis using beam modes except the seventh mode. Both
analyses over-predicted the frequency, except the seventh mode which is expected.
The experimental mode shape functions which were extracted using the Star soft-
ware were presented for the rst seven modes for 15 tested locations and Table 6.4
and 6.5 show the results. The mode shape functions are presented by the magnitude
154
and phase at each location because of damping exists in any real structures. The real
components of the mode shapes were used in our analyses. We can reconstruct the
mode shapes functions for the entire plate using two-dimensional interpolation based
on information from these 15 points. The rst six mode shape functions are plotted in
contour form, as shown in Figures 6.5 a-f. From the gures, we can identify the nodal
line and mode number clearly. The analytical mode shape functions predicted by the
assumed modes method using plate modes are presented as well in Figures 6.6 a-f.
We noted that the nodal lines in the experimental results were curved while the nodal
lines predicted by the analyses are straight lines. We need more separable terms for
each mode in our analyses to achieve the better prediction of plate bending vibration.
Finally we compared the frequency response functions predicted by both analyses by
picking up one location on the plate, the number 15, as shown in Figure 6.4. And the
coordinates were listed in Table 6.1. The frequency response functions were plotted in
Figure 6.7. Both analyses captured the trend of frequency response functions.
6.2.2 Plate with PCLD Treatment
As shown in Figure 6.3, the PCLD treatment was placed on the center of the plate,
which fully covered the y direction and covered from x1 = 4in. to x2 = 8in. in x
direction, breaking the whole plate into three regions. Region 1, (x, y) = [0 : 4; 0 : 10]
is an isotropic aluminum plate; the PCLD region PCLD is three-layer sandwich plate;
region 3, (x, y) = [8 : 12; 0 : 10], is an isotropic plate again. For the base plate, we
assumed CFCF boundary conditions and the constraining plate had FFFF boundary
conditions, in which FFFF denote a plate free along all edges. As with uniform
155
aluminum plate, the assumed modes method was used to calculate the response of
a plate with PCLD treatment. In this case, we have to also include the in-plane
mode shape functions as well. The assumed modes method was used to calculate the
sandwich plate with PCLD treatment, in which the GHM method was adopted to
account for the frequency dependent complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core.
Two analyses were developed, that is assumed modes using beam and rod modes, and
assumed modes using plate modes for base plate and rod modes for constraining layer.
1. First we will demonstrate the assumed modes method using the beam and rod mode
shapes, denoted as Analysis I. We assumed the transverse displacements were
the same for each layer in the region of the PCLD treatment. Beam bending
modes with clamped-clamped boundary conditions in x direction and beam
bending modes with free-free boundary conditions were used to approximate the
transverse displacement w(x, y), which were the same as the uniform aluminum
plate case. Base plate had CFCF boundary conditions for in-plane motion.
In-plane displacements, u1 (x, y) and v1 (x, y), were assumed to be:
mx ny
u1 (x, y) = U1i (t) sin cos
l c
i
mx ny
v1 (x, y) = V1i (t) sin cos (6.4)
l c
i
which satised the geometric boundary conditions along the x and y directions.
The constraining plate was a plate with FFFF conguration, and its in-plane
displacements were
mx ny
u3 (x, y) = U3i (t) cos cos
l c
i
mx ny
v3 (x, y) = V3i (t) cos cos (6.5)
l c
i
156
We also include the rigid body modes in our calculations. The mode number i ,
m and n are dened in Table 4.2. We can substitute these assumed modes and
construct the mass, stiness, and damping matrices as shown in the Appendix.
The only dierence is that we had to integrate by pieces to assemble the whole
system matrices. The GHM method was used to account for the frequency
dependent complex shear modulus of viscoelastic core. A total of 25 modes
were included to achieve the frequency convergence compared to experimental
results. This led to a model with 500 degrees of freedom because of additional
internal coordinates used in the GHM method.
2. In order to save the computation cost, we try to improve the assumed modes by the
plate bending and in-plane modes which were solved based on the Kantorovich
method, which is denoted as Analysis II. These mode shapes minimize the total
system energy and were higher order solutions. The transverse displacement w,
were assumed as shown in the Table 5.5 and 5.6. In-plane displacements, u1
and v1 in the base plate, were assumed as the same in Table 5.7 to 5.10. These
mode shape functions were solved based on the Kantorovich method for isotropic
rectangular plates under bending and in-plane vibrations. For the constraining
plate, we used same modes as given by Eq. 6.5, which are approximated by
the rod modes in both x and y directions. We have tried to use the in-plane
plate mode shape functions which were solved based on the Kantorovich method
for the constraining plate. We found that more in-plane modes were needed
compared to the case of using rod modes for approximation. Our goal is to
alleviate the computational cost. Therefore, the combination of plate modes for
157
base plate and rod modes for the constraining plate was used in the assumed
modes method for the sandwich plate analysis. Finally, for each displacements,
the rst 16 modes were included and led to a model with 320 degrees of freedom.
We calculated the natural frequencies and loss factors and compared to the
experimental data which was processed by the Star software [72]. These results
were presented in Table 6.6 for frequency and Table 6.7 for loss factor. The
mode shape functions calculated by the Star software were given in Table 6.8
and 6.9. The mode shapes plotted a contour form, are illustrated in Figure 6.8.
The analytical mode shape functions were plotted in Figure 6.9 to compare with
the experimental results.
The frequency response functions predicted by Analysis I and Analysis II were plot-
ted and compared against the experimental data at location 11, as shown in Figure
6.10. The analytical predictions captured the general trend of the frequency response
functions for the plate with PCLD treatment and both magnitude and phase were
correlated to the experimental results.
6.3 Summary
The analytical results of frequency, mode shapes and response have been validated
by the experimental results. For the aluminum plate, the plate mode shape functions
found based on the Kantorovich method improve our predictions. As shown in Ta-
ble 6.3, there were only total seven modes needed to achieve the same accuracy as
predicted by 25 beam bending mode shapes, because the plate mode shape functions
158
can minimize the total plate bending energy. The largest error appeared for the rst
mode in both methods and this is due to the boundary condition eects. We can
minimize the error by improving the clamping design. From the second to the sixth
modes, the error predicted by plate modes were less than those using the beam modes
except the seventh mode. The experimental results for mode shapes were plotted in a
contour form, as shown in Figure 6.5. We can identify the nodal line clearly and mode
number can be determined for each mode. These mode shapes were generated from
curve tting results of 15 measured points, and we would need more points to obtain
better results. The laser vibrometer will help us to scan the whole plate to obtain the
response at many locations. For the given analytical results in Figure 6.6, we can see
that the mode shapes demonstrated some symmetric properties. In order to improve
these mode shape, we have to include more separable terms for each mode instead of a
single term in our calculation of these mode shape functions. The frequency response
function were plotted and compared to the experimental results for a given points. We
select this point in order to demonstrate all the modes. Our predictions captured the
trend and were shifted to right because of over-estimation of frequency.
For the plate with PCLD treatment, we developed two analyses. For both analyses,
the GHM method was incorporated to account for the frequency dependent complex
shear modulus. The rst was to use beam and rod modes for all the displacements
in the assumed modes method, as shown in chapter 4. We include rst 25 modes for
each displacement and it leads to a system with about 500 degrees of freedom. The
second was to use the plate modes for base plate structure and the rod modes were
applied to in-plane modes for the constraining plate. We tried to use plate in-plane
159
modes with FFFF boundary for the constraining plate, but the results were not very
promising. More in-plane modes for the constraining plate were needed in order to
achieve comparable accuracy of frequency predictions compared to analysis I. Our goal
is to reduce the number of modes included in the assumed mode method and maintain
the accuracy of our predictions. Therefore, we developed the analysis II, in which we
updated assumed modes for base plate using plate bending and in-plane modes which
were solved based on Kantorovich method and used the rod modes to approximate the
in-plane displacements in the constraining plate. In analysis II, only rst 16 modes
for each displacement are included and it leads to a system with about 320 degrees of
freedom.
As shown in Table 6.6, the frequency predictions for the rst ve modes in both
analyses were compared to the experimental results. The largest error was in the rst
mode for both analyses, and both analyses achieved the same accuracy of frequency
predictions. The total numbers of modes included in Analyses II were 80 while the
number of modes were 125 for Analyses I.
The natural frequency of PCLD plate decreased slightly compared to the frequency
predictions in aluminum plate. However, we obtained higher damping for each modes,
which can lower the vibrations in the structures. Table 6.7 shows the loss factors
predicted by both analyses and are compared to the experimental data. The errors
were large because we were dealing with very small number and those loss factors
were associated with frequencies. The analytical damping predictions were lower than
the experimental data because we can not include all the damping mechanism in our
anlayses. In the Analyses II, the damping predictions were higher than those in the
160
Analyses I.
The experimental mode shape functions for sandwich plate were plotted in Figure
6.8. The mode shapes functions were similar to those in Figure 6.5 for the uniform
aluminum plate. This indicated that the bending mode shape would not change very
much for these two cases. This validates our assumption to use isotropic bending
plate mode shapes and the assumption that the whole sandwich plate exhibit same
transverse displacement for each layers. The response functions predicted by both
analyses captured the trend of experimental results for a point as shown in Figure 6.10.
The presented analyses can predict the behaviors of the plate with PCLD treatment.
161
Table 6.3: Bending frequency results for an aluminum plate with CFCF bound-
ary conditions
Bending Plate Modes i = 7 Beam Modes i = 25
Mode Expt Model Error Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1,1 83.7 87.8 4.9 88.2 5.38
1,2 107.3 111.01 3.46 111.31 3.74
1,3 207.13 209.52 1.15 210.32 1.54
2,1 233.68 241.56 3.37 243.06 4.02
2,2 266.03 274.75 3.28 276.88 4.08
2,3 381.41 388.3 1.81 391.21 2.6
1,4 420.68 419.56 -0.27 420.85 0.04
162
Table 6.4: Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for an alu-
minum plate with CFCF boundary conditions, 15 tested locations from mode 1
to 4
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4
Pts Mag. Phase Mag. Phase Mag. Phase Mag. Phase
[deg.] [deg.] [deg.] [deg.]
1 1.44 -2.43 1.41 176.71 0.6696 -175.22 2.85 -179.35
2 1.41 0.213 0.675 176.11 0.0387 -13.57 1.76 178.93
3 1.13 -2.04 0.0103 166.13 0.4104 -2.28 1.54 178.74
4 1.16 -1.69 0.8706 1.09 0.068 12.63 1.72 177.63
5 1.24 -2.76 1.32 -2.34 0.4659 -179.5 2.25 176.9
6 2.6 -1.3 2.12 177.38 1.08 177.68 0.3122 0.0956
7 2.27 1 1.48 176.61 0.2334 51.6 0.2943 -141.89
8 2.29 -0.446 0.1307 145.15 0.6196 -0.8408 0.0261 -105.13
9 2.55 -0.997 1.35 -6.31 0.0769 -22.89 0.0231 -137.54
10 2.9 -0.277 2.85 -0.7736 1.13 177.4 0.0871 -3.35
11 2.58 -0.251 2.44 177.13 1.1 179.97 2.41 -3.82
12 1.87 -2.05 1.53 -176.32 0.0479 -1.97 1.48 -0.5379
13 2.18 -3.16 0.0557 -2.61 0.6643 -4.75 1.57 -2.83
14 2.11 -1.65 1.18 0.4232 0.162 -1.4 1.65 -0.4065
15 2.21 -1.9 2.53 -0.0681 1.04 171.22 1.82 -1.4
163
Table 6.5: Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for an alu-
minum plate with CFCF boundary conditions, 15 tested locations from mode 5
to 7
Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7
Pts Mag. Phase Mag. Phase Mag. Phase
[deg.] [deg.] [deg.]
1 2.82 -0.9878 1.63 -1.62 1.7 2.76
2 1.24 3.83 0.0974 -173.77 0.6979 -173.9
3 0.0558 -177.69 1.1 -179.65 0.274 -3.13
4 1.17 178.64 0.1162 179.27 1.05 1.23
5 2.12 176.93 1.33 0.4478 0.8784 -172.69
6 0.3014 -175.96 0.2253 -170.85 2.73 1.48
7 0.1761 -68.55 0.2373 -118.33 1.97 -159.07
8 0.0415 160.76 0.0883 158.3 0.6531 168.06
9 0.1053 -58.9 0.0572 99.56 1.58 1.51
10 0.1918 0.8424 0.2075 -173.33 3.7 -178.9
11 1.96 178.74 1.46 178.71 2.72 4.96
12 0.9946 177.12 0.0093 -7.6 1.49 -175.69
13 0.0395 38.63 1 -1.79 0.1036 9.15
14 0.9903 -2.85 0.2673 -1.17 1.77 2.2
15 2 -0.8992 1.32 176.99 2.97 -176.13
164
Table 6.6: Bending frequency results for a plate with PCLD treatment, as shown
in Figure 6.3; in analysis I, 25 modes for each displacement were assumed and it
leads to 500 degrees of freedom; in analysis II, 16 modes for each displacement
were used for a total of 320 degrees of freedom.
Bending Analysis I Analysis II
Mode Expt Model Error Model Error
No. [Hz] [Hz] [%] [Hz] [%]
1,1 83.1 87.7 5.54 87.8 5.66
1,2 104.91 107.92 2.87 108.02 2.96
1,3 218.9 220.82 0.88 220.74 0.84
2,1 234.2 241.9 3.29 241.17 2.98
2,2 277.8 286.28 3.06 285.59 2.81
165
Table 6.7: Loss factor results for a plate with PCLD treatment, as shown in
Figure 6.3; in analysis I, 25 modes for each displacement were assumed and it
leads to 500 degrees of freedom; in analysis II, 16 modes for each displacement
were used for a total of 320 degrees of freedom.
Mode Analysis I Analysis II
No. Expt. Model Error [%] Model Error [%]
1,1 0.06 0.0448 -25.3 0.0486 -19
1,2 0.0412 0.0334 -18.9 0.0371 -9.96
1,3 0.0424 0.0275 -35.1 0.0304 -28.1
2,1 0.031 0.0302 -2.58 0.0328 5.81
2,2 0.0334 0.0297 -11.1 0.039 16.8
166
Table 6.8: Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for a plate
with PCLD treatment; 15 tested locations from mode 1 to 3
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3
Pts Mag. Phase Mag. Phase Mag. Phase
[deg.] [deg.] [deg.]
1 1.1 8.49 1.56 -173.99 0.6049 2.54
2 0.9012 2 0.7458 -168.24 0.0904 -118.61
3 0.8187 2.17 0.1127 1.85 0.3855 -125.34
4 0.8355 0.4081 1.23 -5.41 0.0503 -52.01
5 0.8747 3.72 2.32 0.0929 0.7609 -16.84
6 1.96 2.95 2.77 177.71 0.5755 18.03
7 1.59 -2.64 1.3 178.41 0.0777 -137.47
8 1.32 -1.66 0.1907 -10.01 0.358 -176.83
9 1.23 -2.26 1.33 -0.5522 0.119 -171.19
10 1.28 -0.5705 3.52 0.9492 0.6885 -0.3351
11 1.72 -1.89 2.43 179.51 0.376 18.11
12 1.39 -1.2 1.31 178.56 0.08 128.38
13 1.25 -0.0357 0.0883 -17.39 0.4547 174.87
14 0.847 -2.06 1.51 2.35 0.0494 126.74
15 1.02 -2.77 2.97 0.832 0.6653 26.98
167
Table 6.9: Experimental results of bending mode shape functions for the plate
with PCLD treatment; 15 tested locations from mode 4 to 5
Mode 4 Mode 5
Pts Mag. Phase Mag. Phase
[deg.] [deg.]
1 2.27 -168.49 2.82 3.13
2 1.74 -172.04 1.65 11.6
3 1.54 -172.26 0.1087 37.86
4 1.5 -179.72 2.03 177.38
5 1.93 -175.29 3.51 179.9
6 0.0397 -56.12 0.2074 -38.21
7 0.2324 167.67 0.2046 -28.23
8 0.1221 164.13 0.0073 -83.08
9 0.365 165.57 0.3651 178.4
10 0.1337 -105.82 0.1462 170.5
11 1.38 -3.18 2.06 -178.29
12 1.59 -2.84 1.58 179.63
13 1.05 8.96 0.0783 -42.18
14 1.26 -1.56 1.58 -2.44
15 1.29 3.16 2.67 2.59
168
10 10
0
.75
9 9
8 8 0
.5
7 7
0.2
6 6 5 0
0.25
0.75
0.75
0.5
0.25
0.5
5 5 0
4 4
3 3 0.25
2 2 0.5
1 1 0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
a) = 83.7Hz; mode (1, 1) b) = 107.30Hz; mode (1, 2)

10 10
0.7 0.75
5
0
9 0.5 9
.75
0.25
8 8
0 0
7 7
0.25
6 6
0.25
0.25
0.5
0.25
0.5
0
0.25
5 5
0.5
0.5
0.5
4 4
0.25
3 3
0 0
2 2
5 0.5
1 0.2 1
0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
c) = 207.18Hz; mode (1, 3) d) = 233.68Hz; mode (2, 1)

10 10
0.75
0.
0.7
75
0.5
0.25
9 5 9 0.5
0.5 0
8
0.5 8 0.25
0.2
0 0
0.
0
7 25 7
0.25
6 0 6
0.25
0 0.5
0
5 0 5 0
.5
4 4
0.25
5
3 0.2 3
0
0
2 2 0
0.5 0.5 0.25 0.25
0
1 1 0.5 0.5
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
e) = 266.03Hz; mode (2, 2) f) = 381.40Hz; mode (2, 3)
Figure 6.5: Contour plot of experimental bending mode shape functions for an
aluminum plate with CFCF boundary conditions
169
10 10
9 9
0.75
8 8
0.5
7 7
6 6 0.25
0.25
5 5 0 0
0.75
0.25
0.75
0.5
0.5
4 4 0.25
3 3
0.5
2 2
0.75
1 1
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
a) = 87.8Hz; mode (1, 1) b) = 111.01Hz; mode (1, 2)

10 10
0.75
9 0.5 9
0.25
8 0 8
0.5
7 7
0.5
0
0.5
0.5
6 6
0.25
0.75
0.75
0.25
0.25
0.75
5 5
0.25
0.75
4 4
0.5
3 0.25 3
2 0 2
0.25
1 0.5 1
0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
c) = 209.52Hz; mode (1, 3) d) = 241.56Hz; mode (2, 1)

10 10
0.75 0.7
5
9 0.75 0.75 9 0.5 0.5
0.25 0.25
8 8
0 0
0.5 0.5
0
7 7
25
6 0.25 0. 6
0
0 0
.75
5 5
75
0 0.
.5
5
4 4
0.
25 5 0
0. 0.2
5
25
.2
0
0.
0
3 3
0.5 0.5
2 2 0 0
0.2 0.25
0.75 0.75 0.5 5
1 1 0.5
5
.75 0.7
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
e) = 274.75Hz; mode (2, 2) f) = 388.3Hz; mode (2, 3)
Figure 6.6: Contour plot of analytical bending mode shape functions for an
aluminum plate with CFCF boundary conditions
170
Legend: Expt. Plate Modes . Beam Modes
3
Mag(M/N) [log10]
7
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
200
150
Phase [deg]
100
50
0
100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 6.7: Frequency response functions of an aluminum plate with CFCF
boundary conditions, at location 15, as shown as Table 6.1; in which only 7
plate modes were included and 25 beam bending modes were used
171
10 10
0.75
9 9
0.5
8 8
0.7
5
7 7
0.25
6 6 0
0.5
0.25
5 5 0
0.25
4 4
5
0.
0.25
3 3
2 2 0.5
1 1 0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
a) = 83.1Hz; mode (1, 1) b) = 104.91Hz; mode (1, 2)

10 10
0.75
9 0.5 9
0.7
0.25
8 8
5
0 0
7 7
5
6 0.2 6 0.
5
0.25
0.25
0
5 .5 5
0.5
0.25
0.25
0
4 0 4
0.5
0.5
3 3
0
2 0.25 2
0.5
5
.7
1 1
0
0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
c) = 218.9Hz; mode (1, 3) d) = 234.2Hz; mode (2, 1)

10
0.75
.5
9
0
0.5
0.25
8
0
7
0.25
6
5 0 0
4
0
.25
0
3
.5
0
2
0.5
0.25
5
.7
1 0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
e) = 277.8Hz; mode (2, 2)
Figure 6.8: Contour plot of experimental bending mode shape functions for a
plate with PCLD treatment under CFCF boundary conditions
172
10 10
9 9 0.75
8 8
0.5
7 7
0.25
6 6
0.75
0.75
0.25
0.5
0.25
0.5
5 5 0
4 4
0.25
3 3
0.5
2 2
1 1 0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
a) = 87.8Hz; mode (1, 1) b) = 108.02Hz; mode (1, 2)

10 10
9
0.75 9
0 0.5
.25
8 8
0
7 7
0.25
0.25
0.25
6 6
0.5
0.5
0.75
0.75
0.5
5 5
0.5
0
0.
75
4 0.5 4
0.25
0.2
5
3 3
0
2 0.2 2
5
0.5
1 1
0.75
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
c) = 220.74Hz; mode (1, 3) d) = 241.17Hz; mode (2, 1)

10
9
0.7
0.75
5
8
0.5
7
0.5
0
0
6
.25
0.25
5 0 0
0.25 0.
4 25
0
0.5 0.5
3
2 0.75 .75
0
1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
e) = 285.59Hz; mode (2, 2)
Figure 6.9: Contour plot of analytical bending mode shape functions for a plate
with PCLD treatment under CFCF boundary conditions
173
Legend: Expt. Analysis II . Analysis I
3.5
Mag(M/N) [log10]
4.5
5.5
6
100 150 200 250 300
200
150
Phase [deg]
100
50
0
100 150 200 250 300
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 6.10: Frequency response functions of a plate with PCLD, at location 11;
in analysis I, 25 modes for each displacement were assumed and it leads to 500
degrees of freedom; in analysis II, 16 modes for each displacement were used for
a total of 320 degrees of freedom.
174
Chapter 7
Summary and Conclusions
The objectives of this research focused on the solution of vibration problems in sand-
wich beams and plates, and to validate all the analytical results with experimental
data. To this end, the original contributions of this study are:
development of a spectral nite element method for the sandwich beam analyses;
analytical validation of the spectral nite element model using results from the
assumed modes method and conventional nite element method for sandwich
beam;
experimental validation for all the analyses of sandwich beams by comparing
the results of natural frequency and response;
introduction of the GHM method in the assumed modes method for sandwich
plate analyses using beam and rod modes;
achievement of plate bending and in-plane vibration mode shape functions for
isotropic rectangular plate based on the Kantorovich method;
175
application of plate mode shape functions to update the assumed modes in the
sandwich plate analyses;
experimental validation of sandwich plate analyses using the results of natural
frequency, loss factor, mode shape function, and response.
Thus the goals of our research have been achieved.
7.1 Sandwich Beam
A spectral nite element method (SFEM) was developed for the sandwich beam anal-
yses. The frequency dependent complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core was
implicitly accounted because the SFEM was developed in frequency domain. There is
no need for additional damping model. The shape functions in the SFEM were dupli-
cated from the progressive wave solutions. Therefore, the number of elements needed
in SFEM coincides with the number of dierent impedance in the structures. The
conventional nite element method (CFEM) and the assumed mode method (AM)
were used to calculated the sandwich beams as well where the GHM method has to be
included to account for the frequency dependent complex shear modulus of viscoelastic
core. This leads to a large size of model because the additional internal coordinates in
the GHM method increase the degrees of freedom in the analyses of sandwich beam
The analytical results of natural frequency and frequency response were validated
by the experimental data by testing two beam specimens with 50% and 75% PCLD
treatment. The SFEM can provide an accurate solution at the less computation cost
compared to CFEM and AM.
176
7.2 Sandwich Plate
We expect to extend the SFEM for sandwich plate analyses. But it is extremely to ob-
tain the exact solutions of equations for sandwich plate. The assumed modes method
was developed to model the sandwich plate and the GHM method was incorporated
where one-dimensional beam and rod modes were approximated the two-dimensional
plate modes in both x and y directions. This approach consumes a large computational
cost. In order to improve this simple approach, we updated the assumed modes using
plate modes which were solved from isotropic rectangular plate based on the Kan-
torovich method. These updated plate bending and in-plane mode shape functions
were a higher order approximation of the biharmonic equation in plate bending and
Navier equations in plate in-plane vibration. The nal solutions of these plate modes
were presented and the approach was demonstrated for plate bending and in-plane
vibrations. We introduced these plate modes in the assumed modes method for the
sandwich plate analyses. The number of modes included decreases compared to the
case of using beam and rod modes. Experiments were conducted to study the sand-
wich plate dynamics. The experimental data of natural frequency, loss factor, mode
shape functions and response were presented. These results were used to validated
our analytical predictions. Good correlations were achieved between the analyses and
experiment. Therefore, the updated assumed modes method using plate modes can
be used to analyze the sandwich plate structures.
177
7.3 Recommendations for Future Research
This study has demonstrated that our approaches for the sandwich beam and plate
analyses were successful. All the results were experimental validated. The SFEM in
the sandwich beam analyses can provide exact solutions for the corresponding gov-
erning equations and we can implicitly account for the frequency dependent complex
shear modulus of the viscoelastic core. We expect to extend the spectral nite element
approach to sandwich plate analyses as well. Our next step will focus on directly solv-
ing to the PDEs of sandwich plates in order to apply the SFEM method to sandwich
plate analysis. The Kantorovich method has been applied to the problems of isotropic
rectangular plates under bending and in-plane vibrations. We expect to extend this ap-
proach to sandwich plate analysis as well. This will provide us the coupled mode shape
functions for all the transverse and in-plane displacements. However, the advanced
computational schemes are needed in order to solve these fully coupled PDEs with the
complex coecients introduced by the complex shear modulus of the viscoelastic core.
On the other hand, we want to improve plate mode shape functions of isotropic
plate structures under bending and in-plane vibrations. Now we assume a single
separable variable solution form. We could include more terms to improve current
results, especially, for plate in-plane vibration with free edges. The essentials of wave
propagation in the plate structures are needed to be well studied for both isotropic
plate and sandwich plate structures. Based on these wave solution forms, a new type
of nite element approach will be produced for dynamic analyses of two-dimensional
plate structures.
In all our studies, we assume that a structure has a uniform cross section area.
178
For non-uniform beams, the wave solutions will be special mathematical functions,
such as Bessel functions. However, for non-uniform plates, it is very dicult to solve
it analytically. And it is still a challenge to solve it using the Kantorovich method.
Therefore, the next step is to study the non-uniform structures using spectral nite
element method or the Kantorovich method.
The motivation of this research is developed a hybrid noise control scheme. There-
fore, based on our approaches, we can develop a comprehensive acoustic and structural
coupled system to study the vibration and noise control. The control algorithm can
be design to achieve the jet smooth quiet ride goal in the helicopter industry.
179
Appendix A
Mass and Stiness Matrices
The elements of the mass and stiness matrices for a sandwich plate with isotropic
faces and a viscoelastic core are listed here. The mass and stiness matrices for the
sandwich plate may be constructed in blocks or sub-matrices using the total energy,
and assumed mode shape functions. We assumed that the ve displacements for
sandwich plate motion were expansion of associated mode shapes. These mode shapes
are either adapted from beam and rod mode shapes or plate mode shapes which
were solved from uniform isotropic plate bending and in-plane motions based on the
Kantorovich method. The displacements are:

w(x, y, t) = Wi (t)iw (x, y)
i

u1 (x, y, t) = Ui1 (t)iu1 (x, y)
i

v1 (x, y, t) = V1i (t)iv1 (x, y)
i

u3 (x, y, t) = U3i (t)iu3 (x, y)
i

v3 (x, y, t) = V3i (t)iv3 (x, y)
i
180
We substitute the above displacements into the total energy expression of sandwich
plate, Eqs: 4.5 and 4.7. The nal discretized equations of motions can be expressed
as:
M x + Ke x + G
Kv x = F (A.1)
where M is the mass matrix, Ke and Kv are the stiness matrices which are contributed
from elastic and viscoelastic part, respectively. x is modal coecients vector, in which
the components correspond to the amplitudes of assumed mode shapes. F is a force
vector which is discretized by the assumed mode shape functions. The details of mass
and stiness matrices are demonstrated in the following sections. When we construct
the Eq. A.1, the GHM method has to be introduced to account for the frequency
dependent complex shear modulus, G

. This has already been illustrated in Section
2.3.3.
A.1 Mass Matrix
The mass matrix is shown as:

Mww Mwu1 Mwv3

.
M =
..
..
.
..
.
..
.
(A.2)

Mv3 w Mv3 u1 Mv3 v3
181
The o diagonal sub-matrices are all zero.
Mwu1 , Mwv1 , Mwu3 , Mwv3 = 0
Mu1 w , Mu3 w , Mv1 w , Mv3 w = 0
Mu1 v1 , Mu1 u3 , Mu1 v3 , Mv1 u1 = 0
Mu3 u1 , Mv3 u1 , Mv1 u3 , Mv1 v3 = 0
Mu3 v1 , Mv3 v1 , Mu3 v3 , Mv3 u3 = 0 (A.3)
and the diagonal blocks are

Mww (i, j) = hiw jw dA (A.4)
A

Mu1 u1 (i, j) = 1 h1 iu1 ju1 dA (A.5)
A

Mv1 v1 (i, j) = 1 h1 iv1 jv1 dA (A.6)
A

Mu3 u3 (i, j) = 3 h3 iu3 ju3 dA (A.7)
A

Mv3 v3 (i, j) = 3 h3 iv3 jv3 dA (A.8)
A
182
A.2 Stiness Matrices
Before we show the formulas for the element of stiness matrices, we rst dene some
parameters. They are:
E1 h31 E3 h33
Dt = +
12(1 2 ) 12(1 2 )
E1
g1 = (A.9)
2(1 + )
E3
g3 =
2(1 + )
E1
A1 =
(1 2 )
E3
A3 =
(1 2 )
h1 + h3 + 2h2
d =
2h2

=
x

=
y
The stiness matrices, Ke and Kv are assembled as some block matrices:

Kww,e Kwu1 ,e Kwv3 ,e

Ke =

..
.
..
.
..
.
..
.
(A.10)

Kv3 w,e Kv3 u1 ,e Kv3 v3 ,e

Kww,v Kwu1 ,v Kwv3 ,v

Kv =

..
.
..
.
..
.
..
.
(A.11)

Kv3 w,v Kv3 u1 ,v Kv3 v3 ,v
183
and the rst row of stiness sub-matrices in Ke are:
!

Kww,e(i, j) = Dt iw jw + 2iw jw + iw jw
A

g1 h31 + g3 h33 i i
+ w w dA (A.12)
3
Kwu1 ,e , Kwv1 ,e , Kwu3 ,e , Kwv3 ,e = 0 (A.13)
The second row of stiness sub-matrices in Ke are:

#

Ku1 u1 ,e (i, j) = A1 iu1 ju1 + g1 h1 iu1 ju1 dA (A.14)
A
#

Ku1 v1 ,e (i, j) = A1 iu1 jv1 + g1 h1 iu1 jv1 dA (A.15)
A
Ku1 w,e , Ku1 u3 ,e , Ku1 v3 = 0 (A.16)
The third row of stiness sub-matrices in Ke are:
Kv1 u1 ,e = Ku1 v1 ,e T (A.17)

#

Kv1 v1 ,e (i, j) = A1 iv1 jv1 + g1 h1 iv1 jv1 dA (A.18)
A
Kv1 w,e , Kv1 u3 ,e , Kv1 v3 ,e = 0 (A.19)
The fourth row of stiness sub-matrices in Ke are:

#

Ku3 u3 (i, j) = A3 iu3 ju3 + g3 h3 iu3 ju3 dA (A.20)
A
#

Ku3 v3 ,e (i, j) = A3 iu3 jv3 + g3 h3 iu3 jv3 dA (A.21)
A
Ku3w,e , Ku3 u1 ,e , Ku3 v1 ,e = 0 (A.22)
The fth row of stiness sub-matrices in Ke
Kv3 u3 ,e = Ku3 v3 ,e T (A.23)

#

Kv3 v3 ,e (i, j) = A3 iv3 jv3 + g3 h3 iv3 jv3 dA (A.24)
A
184
Kv3 w,e , Kv3 u1 ,e , Kv3 v1 ,e = 0 (A.25)
The rst row of stiness sub-matrices in Kv are:

#

Kww,v (i, j) = d2 h2 iw jw + iw jw dA (A.26)
A

Kwu1 ,v (i, j) = diw ju1 dA (A.27)
A

Kwv1 ,v (i, j) = diw jv1 dA (A.28)
A

Kwu3 ,v (i, j) = diw ju3 dA (A.29)
A

Kwv3 ,v (i, j) = diw jv3 dA (A.30)
A
The second row of stiness sub-matrices in Kv are:
Ku1 w,v = Kwu1 ,v T (A.31)

1 i j
Ku1 u1 ,v (i, j) = dA (A.32)
h2 u1 u1
A
Ku1 v1 ,v = 0 (A.33)

1 i j
Ku1 u3 ,v (i, j) = dA (A.34)
h2 u1 u3
A
Ku1 v3 ,v = 0 (A.35)
The third row of stiness sub-matrices in Kv are:
Kv1 w,v = Kwv1 ,v T (A.36)
Kv1 u1 ,v = Ku1 v1 ,v T (A.37)

1 i j
Kv1 v1 ,v (i, j) = dA (A.38)
h2 v1 v1
A
Kv1 u3 ,v = 0 (A.39)

1 i j
Kv1 v3 ,v (i, j) = dA (A.40)
h2 v1 v3
A
185
The fourth row of stiness sub-matrices in Kv are:
Ku3 w,v = Kwu3 ,v T (A.41)
Ku3 u1 ,v = Ku1 u3 ,v T (A.42)
Ku3 v1 ,v = 0 (A.43)

1 i j
Ku3 u3 ,v (i, j) = dA (A.44)
h2 u3 u3
A
Ku3 v3 ,v = 0 (A.45)
The fth row of stiness sub-matrices in Kv are:
Kv3 w,v = Kwv3 ,v T (A.46)
Kv3 u1 ,v = 0 (A.47)
Kv3 v1 ,v = Kv1 v3 ,v T (A.48)
Kv3 u3 ,v = 0 (A.49)

1 i j
Kv3 v3 ,v (i, j) = dA (A.50)
h2 v3 v3
A
All the elements in the mass and stiness matrices has been demonstrated. Finally,
the GHM method was used to account for the frequency dependent complex shear
modulus. We have shown this in Section 2.3.3
186
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ABSTRACT

Title of Dissertation: Analyses of Sandwich Beams and Plates

Gang Wang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2001

Dissertation directed by: Associate Professor Norman M. Wereley

A hybrid damping scheme using passive constrained damping layers (PCLD),

and vibration control in helicopters. In order to evaluate the performance of these

treatments, we need to understand the dynamic behavior of sandwich structures.

The analyses of sandwich structures are complicated by the frequency dependent

stiness and damping properties of viscoelastic materials. The methods devel-

modes methods to this problem.

A spectral nite element method (SFEM) was developed in the frequency

dent stiness and damping of viscoelastic materials. However, CFEM and AM

method have to use additional internal dissipation coordinates to account for

these properties. The Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) damping method was

used in both analyses. Also SFEM improves accuracy of frequency predictions

We expected to extend SFEM method to two-dimensional sandwich plate

structures. But it is extremely dicult to solve the governing equations for a

sandwich plate. An alternative method was developed to update the traditional

shapes were employed to calculate sandwich plates in AM method. The results of

in the case of using plate mode shapes.

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School

Associate Professor Norman M. Wereley, Chairman/Advisor

To my parents and my teachers.

My sincere gratitude and appreciation goes to my advisor, Dr. Nor-

man Wereley. His kindness, encouragement, and support, helped my

I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Dr.

their enthusiasm in my research.

Over the course of my graduate studies, I have shared happy moments

and tough times with my colleagues at the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft

Center. I am grateful for this.

on mathematics in my research as well as his personal concerns for

Finally, this research was supported by U.S Army Research Oce

under the FY96 MURI in Active Control of Rotorcraft Vibration

serving as technical monitors. Lab equipment support was provided

under the FY96 Defense University Research Instrumentation Pro-

gram (DURIP) Contract No. DAAH-0496-10301, and Dr. Gary

Anderson serving as technical monitor.

LIST OF FIGURES xiv

1.1 Motivation and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2.1 Viscoelastic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2.2 Sandwich Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.2.3 Sandwich Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.3 Scope of the Present Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1.3.1 Sandwich Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1.3.2 Sandwich Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.1 Characteristics of Viscoelastic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.3 Modern Damping Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.3.1 Fractional Derivatives Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2.3.2 AFT and ADF Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.3.3 Golla-Hughes-McTavish Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3 Comparison of Analyses of Sandwich Beams 40

3.1 Assumptions and Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.1.2 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

3.2 Spectral Finite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

3.2.1 Isotropic Rod and Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

3.2.2 Sandwich Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

3.3 Conventional Finite Element Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3.4 Assumed Modes Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

3.5 Solution Type/Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

3.6 Experimental Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

3.7.1 Modal Frequency Predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

3.7.2 Number of Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

3.7.3 Frequency Response Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66